\ LIBHARY OF CONGRESS. 








;/ 



te-JK. 



\ 






♦UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



THE OIL REGIONS 



OF 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



WHERE PETROLEUM IS FOUND ; HOW IT IS OBTAINED, 
AND AT WHAT COST. 

WITH 

Ijints for tttyom it Ma% Concern. 



BY 

WILLIAM WR1 



NEW YORK: 
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
186 5. 



^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-five, by 

HAEPEE & BROTHERS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of 
New York. 



PEEFAOE. 



In the latter part of March, I left *my home for the South-West, design- 
ing to pass through the heart of West-Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, East- 
ern Tennessee, and thence down the Tennessee valley — directly as a cor- 
respondent of the New-York Times ; indirectly with a view of collecting 
materials for a volume on the Border States, their soils, minerals, climate, 
water-power, social condition, etc., for the guidance of those who might 
desire to migrate thither after the war. 

On the way, I proposed to spend a few days in the oil regions of Ve- 
nango county, Pennsylvania, and afterward visit those of West- Virginia, 
supposing that a week would probably suffice to do both all needed justice. 

In accordance with this plan, I walked, jumped, or waded the valley of 
Oil Creek, from Titusville to Oil City, collecting what facts and observations 
I could during the three days consumed in the passage. 

Arrived at the journey's end, I found a discordant, contradictory mass 
of facts and figures on my memorandum-book ; and came to the conclusion 
that, whatever I knew the first day, I knew much less the second, and 
nothing at all the third. Further, that no person outside of Petrolia, and 
very few in it, were in a much more enviable condition of mind on the 
subject, if they would own up to the truth. 

After deliberating afresh, I formed the resolution of visiting every pro- 
ducing well in that county ; gathering from men, who were supposed to have 
no interest in misrepresenting, its actual yield ; comparing the figures with 
those given by officials and neighbors, and out of the whole endeavoring to 
ascertain the truth, as nearly as might be. At the same time, to " bore," 



4 Preface. 

and "ream," and "pump" every practical man for the results of his 
observations, if so be it were possible to arrive at one general law or con- 
clusion respecting the oil regions. 

The residue of March and nearly three weeks in April were faithfully 
devoted to this object. The distance traversed on foot was fully two 
hundred miles — how agreeable the trip, will be easily inferred from what 
follows. 

An interest, having more than $100,000,000 of bona fide capital in- 
vested in it, had until then never received more attention than could be 
given it in newspaper correspondence or a magazine article. The financial 
aspect of it had not even been scratched. Indeed, honest writers seemed to 
avoid reference to it, except in the most general terms, as if it were going 
beyond their depth. Of course, the Oily Gammons of the press, who had 
been hired as claqueurs at a theatre, applauded every thing. That was their 
vocation ! 

In the following pages I have described the processes of boring the 
wells, of repairing them after getting out of order, and of refining the oil. 
I have entered somewhat minutely into the physical formation of the coun- 
try — a topic which had been almost overlooked, and on some points of 
which, I hope to have thrown out some valuable ideas for the first time. 
When adopting the views there presented, I had not perused the Geological 
Report of Prof. Rogers ; and it is highly gratifying to find that in the main 
features of the argument advanced, I am fully borne out by that eminent 
name. 

But it is to the statistical and financial discussions that I desire princi- 
pally to direct attention. Those chapters will be read by large numbers 
who are eagerly in quest of the information therein contained. The facts 
and figures now given to the public for the first time, together with the 
modes of taking in over-smart, shrewd, keen, knowing Eastern people, will 
tell 

Petrolia needed a searching examination and a scathing exposure ; it 
has got both. Yet let me not be misunderstood. Underneath a system of 
falsehood and fraud, that might almost be termed magnificent^ there is a great 



Preface. 5 

basis of fact, which needs to be presented in its true light ; needs to be pro- 
tected from the misrepresentations of its own pretended friends, who would 
have ruined it loug since if it had not possessed genuine worth of a high 
order. It is to censure what is worth censuring ; to strip off and expose 
what is false and deceptive ; to denounce the cruelty, the lying, the roguery, 
the abject selfishness of many, that I have for the time being turned aside 
from my original object to prepare these sheets for the press. I have aimed 
to state the truth without calumny or prejudice ; to express it clearly and 
forcibly ; to be as thorough as it was possible within moderate limits. How 
well or how ill these objects have been accomplished, the reader will judge 
for himself. 

It is with a feeling of gratitude that I acknowledge the courtesy, in im- 
parting information, of Messrs W. H. L. Smith, of Corry ; A. Morrell and 
Robert B. Gamble, of Titusville ; Edward Fox, of Petroleum Centre ; fra. 
Boniface, of Rouseville ; T. S. Truaire and C. B. Bliss, of Oil City ; Thomas 
R. Hennon, of Tideoute ; Col. McClure, then of Plumer ; George S. Siggins, 
of Howe ; and many others, whose names I do not now recall. 

Since this volume went to press, reports have been received to the 
effect that the United States well on Pithole Creek has increased its flow 
to nine hundred or a thousand barrels per day ; other wells in that local- 
ity are also said to have improved. On the other hand, certain wells, as 
the Jersey, on Oil Creek, have fallen off or dried up altogether. No doubt, 
however, the summer product of petroleum in Venango county is consid- 
erably larger than that of March and April. By referring to the last chap- 
ter but one, it will be seen that a margin of about two thousand barrels 
per day has been allowed for this increase. W. W. 

Paterson, N. J., May, 1865. 



CONTENTS. 



-•-♦-♦- 



C HAP T E R I. 

Physical Features and Geology of the Country, v . . 9 

CHAPTER II. 

Appearance of the Country — The Climate — Characteristics 

of the People, 33 

CHAPTER III. 
Locating and Sinking the Wells, 61 

CHAPTER IV. 

" Struck Oil " — The Law of Lawlessness, .... 79 

CHAPTER Y. 

Obstacles in the Way — The Means used to Overcome them, 97 

CHAPTER VI. 
Statistics of Production, 112 

CHAPTER VII. 
Oil Refining and Refineries, 194 

CHAPTER VIII. 

How Strangers are taken in, 206 

CHAPTER IX. 
Ought I to Invest in Petroleum, and How .... 228 

CHAPTER X. 
Practical Considerations, 260 



* 



The Oil Regions of Pennsylvania. 

•-♦♦ . 

CHAPTER I. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES AND GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTRY. 

The physical features of the oil region of Pennsylvania 
are simple, easily understood, and full of interest. The 
most productive portion of it consists of an irregular quad- 
rangle, each of its sides being from fifteen to twenty-five 
miles in length, and its axial line nearly corresponding 
with the course of Oil Creek between Titusville and Oil 
City. As far as known, it is limited almost exclusively 
to the Alleghany Eiver valley and a section of its north- 
western slope, the principal streams which enter it from 
that direction having an average fall of about twenty feet 
to the mile, while that great artery of Western Pennsyl- 
vania, between "Warren and Pittsburgh, has an average 
fall of one foot to the mile. At Franklin, the mouth of 
French Creek, it is nearly eight hundred feet above tide- 
water, or two hundred and forty feet higher than the sur- 
face of Lake Erie. The lake shore proper is a compara- 
tively narrow strip of land, descending from the range of 
heights which separate it from the Alleghany slope, by 



10 Physical Features, etc. 

frequent and abrupt terraces, to the water. In the oppo- 
site direction the descent toward the south-east is for a 
long distance so gentle as scarcely to be noticeable along 
the water- courses. The country is nearly level, or rolled 
up into hills of moderate elevation and easy ascent. Such 
is its general appearance immediately back of the oil region 
along the line of the Atlantic and Great Western Railway. 

On leaving Corry for Titusville, the passenger is con- 
veyed up a rather steep incline for a few miles, on passing 
which the railroad traverses the summit, a table-land with 
occasional ridges of very moderate height, or round hil- 
locks formed of drift — that is, sand and boulders, ground, 
rounded, and more or less polished. By and by the 
road enters a slight depression, which increases till it be- 
comes a ravine, and finally the bottom of a noisy stream, 
with banks twenty, fifty, and finally one hundred and fifty 
feet high, at which it reaches Titusville. The railroad 
extends down the valley seven or eight miles further, the 
heights on each side becoming more lofty and precipitous, 
until, at Shaffer's, they reach two hundred and fifty feet, 
and at Oil City, twelve miles lower, nearly four hundred 
feet above the Alleghany River, the difference in their 
summits being inconsiderable. 

The approaches to that river by the railroad from Mead- 
ville to Franklin, and by that from Corry to Irvine and 
Warren, are still more simple than on the route already 
described, there being no elevations to be climbed before 
reaching the descent ; but a gentle, downward grade for 
the entire distance. Starting from a nearly level country, 
however, the same phenomenon is perceptible as on the 
Titusville road, namely, heights gradually increasing in 
altitude and abruptness, until the common objective point 



Physical Features, etc. 11 

(the Alleghany valley) has been reached, where they are 
found at about the usual elevation of four hundred feet. 

Starting from that river in the direction of the Alleghany 
Mountains, along any of the tributary streams which flow 
through that part of the country, an exact counterpart to 
this formation will be found, for the twenty, thirty, or 
forty miles immediately east of the Alleghany. 

Not alone in the oil regions of Pennsylvania will this 
observation be found to apply. The same physical fea- 
tures are noticeable in "Western New -York, West- Virginia, 
Eastern and Southern Ohio and Indiana, and Northern 
Kentucky — in fact, throughout the entire prairie States, 
along both sides of the Mississippi and the Missouri. 
Whatever may have been the cause, it is evident that 
agencies essentially alike have been at work in producing 
the effects visible to-day. 

The observant visitor will notice, further, that all this 
is accompanied by hardly a perceptible inclination or " dip " 
of the rocks, which, as high up and as far down as he 
can trace them, are disposed in beautiful horizontal lines, 
gray, yellow, or brown sandstones alternating with blue, 
red, or brown shales, in regular and frequent succession. 
At no point will he detect " faults " or dislocations in the 
arrangement of these, whether on the surface or beneath, 
nor will he find the inclination at any point exceeding 
five degrees. If he has read or observed carefully the 
structure of mountains elsewhere, he will remember that 
the rocks are tilted up at various angles with the horizon, 
in some cases almost ninety degrees ; while at every few 
paces he can discern marks of disturbance in their situa 
tion with respect to each other. He will begin, perhaps, 
to reason within himself how very improbable it must be 



12 Physical Features, etc, 

that those heights could have been individually upheaved, 
inasmuch as thej evince no signs of such action, having 
no inclination save that south-eastern or south-western dip 
common to all the formations from Lake Ontario to Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee. 

If he climb the heights, the mystery at first may increase ; 
for while toward the principal streams the bluffs are usu- 
ally abrupt, precipitous, pyramidal, or ridgy ; on looking 
in the opposite direction, he will observe the same table- 
lands; with gentle elevations formed of drift here and 
there, such as he encountered between Corry and Titus- 
ville. *Ke can hardly fail to suspect the truth, that the 
river-beds, with all their tributaries and the bottoms of 
ravines, have been, in the course of ages, scooped out of 
very slight original depressions by the action of water, which 
has dug out these vast channels to their present depth, 
and is still engaged in deepening and widening them. 

This is the view taken by all geologists of eminence, 
who have examined that portion of the State. Professor 
Vm. D. Eogers, in his admirable Geological Report, says : 
" The Alleghany flows through a deep and narrow trench, 
excavated in the north-west plateau, and within the coal- 
basin of the State. ... It enters the north-western 
margin of the coal-basin at Warren." . Eeferring to the 
remarkably irregular course of that river and the Ohio 
through Pennsylvania, he further observes : " It is evident 
that while the main discharge of the eroding wave was 
south-westward, one large influx of eroding waters swept 
north-westward from the Apalachian Mountains, and an- 
other south-eastward from the region of the lakes." 

The expression "eroding wave" must not, however, be 
understood to imply that, by a single deluge, whether 



Physical Features, etc. 13 

lasting a day or a twelvemonth, the troughs in which those 
rivers now run could have been hollowed out. JSTo sin- 
gle accumulation of waters, collected on the Apalachian 
Mountains or in the lake basin, would be sufficient to ex- 
cavate those valleys to the depth of a single inch, much 
less hundreds of feet. The joint action of time and water 
was necessary to "write those wrinkles on the brow" of 
that Piedmont section ; and of the former it would be silly 
to assign less than myriads of our years. It is true that 
in an earlier stage the denuding process would go on more 
rapidly, inasmuch as the mouth of the Mississippi was sev- 
eral hundreds of miles higher up than at present; while 
the Ohio and its tributaries, flowing down from the table- 
lands, would rush forward and abrade their bottoms and 
banks at a rate which can hardly be understood at present. 
The hard limestone bed crossing that river at Louisville 
has prolonged resistance till this day ; but that is also des- 
tined to wear away, together with the softer rocks above ; 
the fall or rapid thus, step by step, retreating to Pittsburgh, 
unless prevented by artificial obstructions. 

Along the Ohio, as it passes between Pennsylvania, 
West-Virginia, and Kentucky, on one side, and Ohio and 
Indiana on the other, it may be observed that while there 
is substantially the same horizontal stratification, with 
abrasion of the uplands, the action there has been on a 
still larger scale than further northward. The causes of 
this difference are unquestionably to be found in the cir- 
cumstances of the larger bodies of waters at work lower 
down, and the beds of rocks forming the upper series 
along the Ohio consisting of soft shales, which readily dis- 
solve, and, in places, are so constantly crumbling away as 
to form little streams of gravel, which become beds of 



14 Physical Features, etc. 

stiff clay or mud upon reaching the bottoms. This is 
carried off in immense quantities every year, on the melt- 
ing of the snows and after rains, to the Ohio, the Missis- 
sippi, and the Gulf, to form fresh additions to the area ot 
Louisiana, or some other of the Cotton States. For the 
whole of the sugar region, and at least one half of the 
cotton, rice, and tobacco zones of the South consist of allu- 
viums, carried down the eastern and western slopes of the 
Apalachian and the Eocky Mountain systems, along river- 
courses, whose beds have been carved tens and hundreds 
of feet below what was once the general level of the 
country. 

In the oil region of Pennsylvania, the uppermost rock 
in the series (vespertine) is a hard, gray conglomerate, 
which resists the action of water until undermined bv 
the dissolution of the soft shales underneath. When this 
has been brought about, down tumble huge masses of the 
vespertine, in uniform and often quadrangular blocks, 
which in turn become the natural protectors of the bases 
and sides of the bluff, as they had been of its summit. 
But for these efficient safeguards, it is reasonable to infer 
that the channels of the Alleghany and some parts of the 
Ohio would have been as wide as they are found else- 
where, particularly near the mouth of the latter, where 
the country for miles on each side has been washed away. 

This explanation of the origin of those valleys finds 
abundant confirmation at every bend in the streams, par- 
ticularly the large ones. In proportion to the sharpness 
of their curves is the precipitous character of the hills 
forming their exterior lines ; while on the opposite side, 
the heights slope gently and gracefully to the water. Al- 
most the only fields cultivated on the slopes are those 



Physical Features, etc, 15 

headlands around which the river describes a semicircle. 
On rivers flowing through alluvial countries, as the Poto- 
mac and the James, the same rule will hold good, as to 
the areas embraced within their several bends or loops, 
while the opposite shore will invariably be found lofty 
and abrupt, the channels keeping well outward, as if de- 
sirous of increasing their circuit, instead of proceeding 
" on interior lines " or cut-offs. The phenomenon is thus 
explained : Like all other bodies, water has a tendency to 
move in straight lines, as have all the objects which move 
upon or are carried down by it. At every bend, for ex- 
ample, the raft is naturally thrown somewhat out of the 
middle toward the convex side of the river, and the shore 
there is struck with all the weight and momentum of the 
current, until it is undermined, when the portions lying 
highest up fall down and are gradually ground up and 
their particles carried off, making room for the water to 
renew its action upon the bluffs. Hence the two processes 
of lengthening and deepening the stream may be said to go 
on pari passu. At the principal bends, the river, which 
at one time flowed on a bed hundreds of feet higher, also 
described hundreds of yards of a shorter course than it 
now does. As it deepened in one direction, it struck out- 
ward in another. During century after century, it thus 
kept forsaking its old channel and entering one more 
crooked, rounding the headlands, which were afterward 
covered with surface soil washed down from above, or 
made by vegetation on the spot. Every mile or two along 
the Alleghany, Oil Creek, French Creek, etc., these addi- 
tional evidences of erosion or denudation become manifest 
in the formation of the river-beds. The unavoidable in- 
ferences are, that the depositing of oil, or the constituents 



16 Physical Features, etc, 

composing it, has had no possible relation to existing river 
systems; that curves, headlands, slopes, table-lands, and 
bottoms, have no connection, as such, with the finding of 
petroleum ; the only cause why it was discovered in the 
last-named being, that that which was stored in the first 
sand-rock beneath the surface could more readily find its 
way to it in localities where the deposit had been approach- 
ed to within short distances. It was only because it could 
come more easily to the surface in springs along the river- 
bottoms than on the uplands, that it was originally dis- 
covered in the former ; but on the latter, the veins in the 
second or third sand-rocks, which are unable to manifest 
themselves above ground, are quite as likely to be reached 
as on the former, the only drawbacks being the greater 
cost of boring and of pumping the wells afterward. 

Though rather foreign to the subject discussed in this 
work, I may add, that the views advanced above explain 
the cause why " cut-off" canals, as those at Yicksburgh and 
Dutch Gap, have been unsuccessful. They were dug at 
points too far down-stream, with their upper extremities 
some distance below the bluffs, against which the current 
had struck and been deflected toward the opposite bank. 
Had General Butler's famous work taken "the line ot 
beauty," its northern terminus opening against the chan- 
nel as it struck the bank, there could hardly be a doubt 
of its success. - » 

If the length of time required to effect • such changes 
on the earth's surface be bewildering, our wonder will not 
subside on inspecting more closely the several strata be- 
tween the uplands and the lowest point yet reached by 
the drillers, a range of about fourteen hundred feet. Mar- 
vels, indeed, never cease in Petrolia, whether we regard it 



Physical Featwres^ etc. 17 

in its natural aspect, or its lately developed condition. If 
we take our stand on any of the elevations along Oil 
Creek, French. Creek, the Brokenstraw, or any other trib- 
utary of the Alleghany, in that quarter, in the masses of 
gray, brown, or flaggy sandstones, even on the conglom- 
erates forming the uppermost rock in the series, we shall 
discover multitudes of the impressions of what once was 
vegetable or animal life — shells univalve and bivalve, 
shells of all shapes and sizes, rough and smooth casts of 
shells. The plants belong largely to a species known 
among naturalists as fucoids. The organic remains of 
the shell-fishes indicate that they lived and moved in salt, 
not fresh, water ; that they died a natural death, the con- 
sequence of ordinary decay, closing up the doors and 
windows of their abodes, and quietly dropping to what 
had been their couch e're it became their cemetery — the 
ocean-bed — as composedly as Caesar wrapped himself up 
in his toga, at the base of Pompey's statue. Nothing out 
of the natural course, no marks of violence are percepti- 
ble in the circumstances attending their dissolution. ]So 
deluge appears to have swept them away five hundred or 
one thousand miles from their native settlements to end 
their existence on the tops of the mountains. 

" Once, in the flight of ages past, 

There lived a crab ; and who was he ? 
Mortal, where'er thy lot be cast, 
That crab resembled thee !" 

This testimony is not confined to one rock or series in 
the several geological formations of Western Pennsylva- 
nia. In the numerous layers of sandstone, slate, shale, 



18 Physical Features, etc, 

clay, and soap-stone, evidences of mineral and vegetable 
life may be found as low down as the beds of the streams, 
and hundreds of feet beyond. At different points on the 
railroad between Meadville and Franklin, the rock- cut- 
tings pass through what once were dense forests of tall 
trees, the petrified ends of their stems projecting through 
the soft layers, which are beautifully bent around them, 
the petrifactions lying in places as closely together as they 
could have fallen.* Their diameters range from ten inches 
to three feet. The pores of the bark are still visible, as 
is its general arrangement on the outside of the quondam 
trees. The grooves on the exterior, the layers of the inte- 
rior, with several of the lines radiating from the heart, are 
still observable. These petrifactions may be found at 
various depths, from ten to forty feet below what is now 
the surface of the height, but which was hundreds of 
feet below it previous to the eroding action of the waters. 
Shell-marks in abundance are discoverable in the lowest of 
those rocks, as in all the intermediate strata. Mr. A. 
Morrell, now of Titusville, an experienced operator and 
a careful observer, assures me that the sand-pump has 
brought up, from the depth of four hundred and eighty- 
five feet, specimens of petrified shell-fish, which are now 
in his possession, having been obtained in a layer of hard, 
fossiliferous limestone, termed by most operators, " the 
third sand-rock." Here we have an aggregate thickness 
of fully seven hundred and fifty feet, containing probably 
twenty distinct layers, in most or all of which the re- 
mains of vegetable and animal life are discovered. Should 
it turn out that the Niagara limestone underlies that re- 

* The remains of a mastodon are said to have been discovered in that 
vicinity, while the railroad was being graded. 



Physical Features, etc. 19 

gion, there is no telling how many hundreds of feet lower 
such remains may yet be discovered. 

The groups of sandstones above the river-beds differ 
somewhat in various localities, one of a coarser texture 
being replaced by a finer, or the opposite, a pure sand- 
rock, by one more or less argillaceous, a gray by a yel- 
low-colored conglomerate, containing pebbles of quartz, 
sienite, gneiss, etc. In some places they afford excellent 
materials for building purposes ; in others they are made 
into grindstones ; superior flag-stones are to be met with 
everywhere. But such are mere local variations, brought 
about by the deposition of the several materials of which 
the layers are composed. In general, it will be found that 
they belong to rocks which terminate toward the north in 
the State of ISTew- York, and, in South-western Pennsyvania 
and West- Virginia, are found hundreds of feet below the 
surface, the several coal-formations, with the intermediate 
layers, being there superimposed on these formations. 
Counting downward, in Yenango county, the following is 
the succession which most frequently occurs : 

1st. Vespertine conglomerate and sandstone. This is a 
white, gray, or yellowish rock, varying in texture, and 
alternating with a coarse, silicious conglomerate, or with 
dark-blue and olive-colored slates. In places it contains 
beds of dark, carbonaceous shales, with thin seams of 
coal. Among its organic remains are numerous fragments 
of coal-plants. In some parts of the State this series is 
found of immense thickness — as much as twenty-six hun- 
dred feet, according to Professor Kogers, near the Susque- 
hanna Eiver. In Yenango county I have not observed 
it more than one one hundred feet deep, and seldom more 
than fifty. " This group has a wide distribution in Penn- 



20 Physical Features, etc. 

sylvania, encircling as with a sort of girdle, all the coal- 
fields, both anthracite and bituminous. ... It undergoes 
gradual but important changes of type, growing thinner, 
and assuming a finer and finer texture in its materials, as 
it spreads westward. Its orographic position is on the 
ridges and external escarpments of the table-lands, which 
enclose or support the coal-fields ; but, except in the 
north-western district, it does not immediately adjoin the 
conglomerates and sandstones of the coal-measures. . . In 
this north-west belt, and along the north side of the State, 
it is a somewhat argillaceous, micaceous sandstone. . . 
An absence of fossils, and a close assimilation of the ves- 
pertine and umbral series render it difficult to define their 
common boundary. . . Around Warren, this group of 
rocks, reposing directly on the vergent series, and over- 
laid by the serai white sandstone, consists of four mem- 
bers — the lowest a group of thin-bedded sandstones and 
olive-gray shales, the sandstone containing a perpendicu- 
lar, bifurcating, stem-like fossil. The second is a massive 
quartzose conglomerate of smooth, ovoid pebbles, about 
ten feet thick. The third is a thick mass of olive-gray 
shale and thin-bedded sandstones, about one hundred and 
seventy -five feet. The fourth, or uppermost, is a fossilif- 
erous gray sandstone, from ten to fifteen feet. . . The ves- 
pertine conglomerate caps the hills north-west of the Al- 
leghany Eiver. It is often mistaken for the serai conglom- 
erate and sandstone of the coal measures." (Kog-eks.) 

2d. The vergent series. This consists of a rather fine- 
grained gray sandstone, the layers parted by thin alter- 
nating bands of shale. According to the authority just 
quoted, it abounds with remains of marine vegetation. 
In Huntington county it attains a thickness of seventeen 



Physical Features, etc. 21 

hundred feet. In Yenango county it comes down to the 
river bottoms, a distance of nearly three hundred feet be- 
low the vespertine rocks ; how far beneath the valleys is 
unknown. Toward the west this series has a wide exten- 
sion, spreading out in Ohio, in Kentucky, and even Mid- 
dle Tennessee, as well as stretching through West-Yir- 
ginia and East-Tennessee. Some geologists have classi- 
fied this series as follows, counting downward : Slate and 
flaggy sandstone. Two layers of hard, silicious sandstone. 
Beds of thin, pebbly rock. In places, a stratum of yel- 
low sandstone. Several beds of gray sandstone, of more 
or less thickness. Two or three thin layers of sandstone, 
with shells. Beds of shale, usually very dark, alternate 
between each of the above-mentioned layers. 

This second series comprises what are known in New- 
York as the Chemung and the Portage groups. They 
belong to the class denominated palceozoic rocks, because 
containing the most ancient remains of animal and vege- 
table life yet discovered, stretching all the way between 
the gneissic formations beneath, and the lowest of the 
coal-deposits above. Sometimes they are denominated, 
" fossiliferous," "sedimentary," or "secondary" rocks. 
"In Pennsylvania," says Kogers, "this class have been 
deposited during all the four earliest periods of the great 
European divisions, namely, the cambrian, the silurian, 
the devonian, and the carboniferous. No traces of the 
fifth or permian group have yet been discovered in North- 
America. . . . The prolonged succession of sedi- 
mentary action ceased with the close of the cambrian 
system, being terminated by the upheaval of the ocean, in 
whose broad bed, and around whose margin these depo- 
sits had been collected." The aggregate thickness of all 



22 Physical Features, etc. 

the rocks belonging to this class, measured at their great- 
est depths, is not less than thirty-five thousand feet. 

As mention has been made of the coal-beds found in 
that vicinity, and as the coal and petroleum formations are 
generally believed to be intimately related to each other, 
both being largely carbonaceous, it may be proper to re- 
mark here, that the oil region is bounded by the coal- 
fields, on the south and the east. On both sides of the 
Alleghany, near Franklin, coal crops out, in a thin bed, 
and of a rather poor quality, along the summits of the 
hill, from two hundred and fifty to three hundred and 
fifty feet above water. Farther down the river it occurs 
at a lower elevation, until on reaching Pittsburgh the 
deepest beds are found below the water-courses. In some 
localities near Franklin, the coal- vein appears to have 
filled a cup-like depression once existing on the surface 
where it was formed, the bed now dipping downward, 
and afterward rising to its former level. In that neigh- 
borhood the coal-bed may be traced as a dark, even line, 
extending along the highest eminences, while at the foot 
of the bluffs operations at boring have been going on. 
Toward the east the coal-fields are more distant ; but their 
margin in that direction has not been clearly traced and 
defined. Owing to the absence of large streams and broad 
bottoms, operations at searching for petroleum have also 
been greatly restricted east of the Alleghany. The near- 
est practicable point at which coal can be reached is on 
the line of the Philadelphia and Erie Eailroad, above 
Warren. 

As far as I am aware, no actual test has yet been made, 
or if made, none has succeeded, in boring for oil through 
the coal-measures. The experiment is one that ought to 



Physical Features, etc. 23 

be instituted, its results haying something to do with ver- 
ifying or disproving the theory as to the genesis of petro- 
leum commonly entertained. By some it is stoutly maia- 
tained that the one is never found immediately above or 
below the other ; hence, that it is idle to expect oil on 
coal-lands. Others assert that they have, in West- Vir- 
ginia, passed through the coal, and found oil beneath. It 
devolves upon the owners of coal-lands to prove the con- 
tiguous existence of the two, or else be satisfied with 
lower prices than they are now demanding. 

At all events, the two formations in Pennsylvania are 
geologically separated by great distances. Between the 
coal-beds and the first sand-rock where oil appears, at 
least four hundred feet intervene, and at least eight hun- 
dred feet between the coal and the third sand-rock, from 
which the largest yield has been derived. As to the pos- 
sibility of the one being supplied from the other, some fur- 
ther remarks are offered elsewhere. 

Descending to the formations helow the river-bottoms, as 
traversed by the drill, and brought up (as mud) by the 
sand-pump, it becomes necessary to take the " records" of 
wells as kept by operators of more or less acquaintance 
with the subject. Mr. Morrell gives the following as the 
series found on the Watson flats below Titus ville, in sink- 
ing five hundred feet : 

First. Schist rock, with mica and a little hornblende. 
This is what the drillers usually term " the first sand." 

Second. A very soft, silicious rock, resembling soap- 
stone. Feels very soft and greasy at first, and has a nearly 
white color ; but hardens, and becomes bluish after a time. 

Third. A hard transition rock. 

Fourth. Fossiliferous limestone, containing fissures 01 



24 Physical Features, etc. 

caverns in which oil is found. This is usually termed 
"■ the second sand-rock ;" and as it contains sand in various 
proportions, it will be so termed in this work. 

Mr. E. B. Gamble, also of Titusville, who is superin- 
tendent of the Pennyslvania Oil Creek Company's Deep 
well, (now fully twelve hundred feet below the level of the 
Watson flats, and still in progress,) furnishes the follow- 
ing as the results of his observations : 

The first sand-rock commonly occurs there between one 
hundred and fifty and one hundred and sixty feet down, 
and is about sixteen feet thick. Drillers then bore through 
different layers of slate and soap-stone, (not the common 
variety of the latter,) in which the tools often stick fast. 
Between four hundred and eighty and four hundred and 
ninety feet, they strike a pebbly bed, often mixed with 
slate, and usually five feet thick. What is known as the 
second rock occurs about four hundred feet down, and is 
between fifty and sixty feet thick. In this bed, oil is most 
commonly obtained in that locality. In this particular 
instance, the company decided to keep on boring for the 
purpose of making an experiment, with the annexed re- 
sult : At twelve hundred and fifteen feet, they had not 
reached the third sandstone ; and the general belief among 
practical men on the flats is, that none such is to be found 
there. But they passed through shale, slates, soap-stone, 
etc., as above the second layer. This well is, at least, 
four hundred feet deeper than any other whose record I 
was able to examine. 

In passing, it may be mentioned here that a company 
has been formed at Petroleum -Centre, with Mr. D. W. 
Davies as superintendent, to sink a shaft, about seven by 
seventeen feet, as far down as practicable. The organiza- 



Physical Features, etc. 25 

tion is known as the Shaft Company. The experiment 
cannot fail to be highly valuable to the cause of science, 
and may repay all outlays upon it one hundred times over. 
Every company and land-owner in Petrolia ought to en- 
courage the attempt. The evolution of gas will constitute 
the chief difficulty to the progress of this undertaking ; 
and may prevent the introduction of artificial lights alto- 
gether. As, however, it is much lighter than common 
atmospheric air, it is believed the latter can be forced down 
in quantities sufficient to render the operations innocuous. 
Much interest will attach to the work as it progresses. 

Mr. T. S. Truaire, a refiner and a gentleman of veracity 
and much intelligence, furnishes the subjoined statement 
from his record of a well, sunk under his direction, one 
mile above Oil City : " At the depth of two hundred and 
five feet, we struck the first sandstone, and went through 
it at two hundred and forty-three feet. From that point 
to three hundred and fifty feet, we found hard-pan clay, 
beyond which we struck the second rock, thirty feet thick. 
From three hundred and eighty to four hundred and fifty 
feet, we found another shale ; and on passing this, we en- 
tered the third sand-rock, of forty feet in thickness. In 
this we struck a seventy -barrel well." 

The points selected above are nearly eighteen miles 
apart, or fifteen in a direct line, the difference in elevation 
between their surfaces being nearly two hundred and fifty 
feet. It is reasonable to conclude that, while the under- 
lying rocks are nearly horizontal, the layers in some places 
disappear altogether, and in others are modified, both as 
to quality and thickness. . Several persons report that on 
the Watson flats, immediately above the oil-vein, they 
find a hard, flinty rock, a few feet in thickness, black 
2 



26 Physical Features, etc. 

and smooth, like that used for whetstones. Others report 
rinding a mud- vein, from three to five feet thick, in the 
very heart of the second rock. It is supposed that this 
has settled as a sediment, where oil and gas formerly ex- 
isted, after exhaustion of the former. Whatever the or- 
igin, it is productive of much trouble and loss in boring. 

Mr. Fox, an experienced manager and a close observer, 
showed me numerous specimens of the inferior rocks. As 
compared with the first, a fragment of the third sand-rock 
at Petroleum Centre is harder, finer, and better polished, 
somewhat resembling a whetstone ; its color is gray. 
Among the sand brought up from the bottom were found 
mixed black particles, as if of a carbonaceous origin. The 
specimen also had a distinct odor of the gas which comes 
off petroleum. 

At Tideoute, on the Upper Alleghany, in sinking one 
hundred and fifty feet, they passed through layers of earth 
or gravel, slate, soap-stone, slate, gray sand, and white 
sand, finding oil in a gray, pebbly conglomerate. There 
and at West-Hickory, crevices were found, into which tools 
often dropped and got fast. On the Lower Alleghany, it 
is not customary to sink more than four hundred 'and fifty 
or five hundred feet, and the observations are of less value. 
One superintendent reports that below the second sand- 
stone, they usually get shale and soap-stone ; sometimes 
beds of hard shales ; sometimes a third sand- rock is pierc- 
ed, but not often. Another states that, on or near West- 
Sandy Creek, at the depth of five hundred and eighteen 
feet, they went through a substance of a bright, silvery 
appearance, which he believes to be a metal. It was very 
hard, and the bed about nine inches thick. The gentle- 
man was evidently trustworthy, but he could only describe 



Physical Features, etc. 27 

the substance from memory, having bored through it some 
years ago. 

The wells put down five or six years since, in several 
cases got petroleum in the first sand-rock, their owners 
haviog been led to select such spots from " surface indica- 
tions ;" that is, petroleum oozing out of the ground. The 
famous Drake well struck oil at the depth of only sixty- 
nine and a half feet. In only some instances did men think 
of going down to the second rock, and in none to the third 
till long afterward. The article found in the uppermost 
layer is darker, thicker, heavier, and more valuable than 
that coming from the next, as the latter is apt to be supe- 
rior to that obtained from the third rock. On French 
Creek, the splendid lubricating oil is got in the second se- 
ries exclusively ; the only instance in which I could hear 
of oil having been got lower down, showing that it was of 
the illuminating kind. But experiments, sufficient to prove 
the existence of a general law on this subject, have not yet 
been made ; and of all regions, Petrolia is the last where 
a general principle can safely be inferred from particular 
facts, Nature having apparently taken a delight in setting 
all her own regulations at defiance. The only law which 
can be recognized with certainty is that of lawlessness. 

If people wonder that sagacious and truthful men should 
sometimes vary so widely in their descriptions of the same 
object or phenomenon, let it be borne in mind that few ot 
the superintendents, and none of the drillers, however ex- 
perienced as operators, have received a regular scientific 
training ; while professional savans have kept far too clear 
of the oil regions, as if they dreaded to come in contact 
with petroleum, except when their opinions were solicited 
and paid for by interested parties. This is not all the dif- 



28 Physical Features, etc. 

Acuity, however. The evidences of what the nether for- 
mations consist of, and what they contain, come up in the 
sand-pump, before passing into which the matter is ground 
fine, and being mixed with the water forms a paste or fluid. 
Seldom is a pebble bigger than a pea brought up by the 
ordinary process. Only when the workmen introduce 
some extraordinary agent like the torpedo, can they cal- 
culate upon getting fragments of the rocks to furnish data 
for observation and reflection. 

]?or the same reason, the relation of petroleum to salt 
water is difficult to be gathered. The two liquids have 
been found, in almost immediate contact very generally, 
in first, second, and third sandstones ; although it is now 
rare to get either in considerable quantities from the first. 
But the sand-pump coming up with a load of dissolved 
and mixed sand and clay, brings with these and the brine 
more or lessrfresh water which falls down from above, so 
that the precise spot where a salt-spring may be reached 
can not be ascertained. All that we know with tolerable 
certainty is that, on passing the second layer of sandstone, 
little by little the water begins to taste brackish ; but not 
until the well has been " seed-bagged" and pumped for a 
time does it reach the full degree of strength, which is 
often equal to that of the strongest sea water. In some 
instances, this was struck, on Oil Creek, at depths of only 
seventy or one hundred feet. At Tideoute and West- 
Hickory, the salt was reached, in connection with the oil, 
at various depths between one hundred and ten and one 
hundred and fifty feet, the rule there being — no brine, no 
petroleum. 

But why this close neighborhood on the part of liquids 
which do not mix mechanically, have no known chemical 






Physical Features ', etc. 29 

relationship, and are never found associated in either the 
animal or vegetable world, except as traces ? It is a com- 
mon proverb that oil and water cannot be made to mingle, 
yet Nature, in her subterranean laboratories, seems to de- 
light in setting this rule at defiance ; for while the brine 
usually manifests itself first in order, when the pump is 
applied, it never entirely forsakes the oil, the two clinging 
to each other like brother and sister. They are found to- 
gether in West- Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, as well as 
in Western Pennsylvania. 

And whence the brine ? it may be asked. This ques- 
tion admits of a ready answer, and but one, by means of 
the fossiliferous remains and impressions of marine plants 
found in the sandstone, all going to show that every suc- 
cessive layer of it and of clay shales was formed in a 
shallow sea, which kept sinking gradually, as the coasts of 
certain countries are known to be doing at present. All 
this must have been going on through an untold succes- 
sion of ages before the upheaval of that portion of the 
American continent began, or any river had begun to 
thread its devious course along the slight depressions. 
Added to the above is the following remarkable fact, stat- 
ed by Mr. Ludovici, of the Humboldt Kefinery, near Plund- 
er, a most intelligent gentleman : From one of their wells, 
about seven hundred feet deep, was brought up a fibrous, 
yellowish substance, closely resembling salt meadow-grass, 
and not quite decomposed. The inference is clear that the 
sand-beds and clay deposits, the latter of which turned to 
shales, cracking and cleaving, as we may behold them, 
under the influence of heat, any day, were, in their "half- 
baked" condition, completely saturated with the salt water, 
which remained in their seams and crevices long after the 



30 Physical Features, etc. 

great valley had been upheaved from the ocean-bed to its 
present elevation. 

While on this subject, I may relate a curious experi- 
ment made by Mr. Morrell, who placed a quantity of pe- 
troleum and salt water in an atmospheric pump, and then 
exhausted the air, having previously shaken the two to- 
gether, so as to mix them as perfectly as possible. The 
result was, that the water settled to the top and ftottom, the oil 
remaining in the middle of the vessel. This is the more 
worthy of notice since it conforms to common experience 
in the oil regions, brine coming first up in the pumps, next 
petroleum, accompanied by gas, and lastly salt water. Why 
this disposition in the tube ? Who can explain the cause 
of capillary attraction ? 

On the geographical and geological relations of coal and 
p etroleum, I have already made some general observations. 
Even with the imperfect information within reach, the 
subject has a practical bearing. It is very certain that 
companies- issuing prospectuses which intimate that hecause 
coal exists on their property, therefore oil will likely be 
reached, reckon without their hosts. The intervening 
space between the two (from four hundred to one thousand 
feet) is so great, and contains such an immense variety of 
rocks, that I regard the passage of petroleum downward 
by filtration as an impossibility. If the heavy sea water, 
for example, existing in the second series, has in thousands 
of years been unable to work its passage downward to the 
ocean-level, is it to be supposed that beds so completely 
filled with it would admit the entrance of a lighter liquid 
from above ? Fresh water, we know, is scarcely ever found 
more than two hundred feet beneath the surface of the riv- 
ers, and never at the depth of four hundred feet, except 



Physical Features, etc 31 

by passing down the oil-wells. Could petroleum, still 
lighter, have made its way through slate, hard-pan, soap- 
stone, and all the other sedimentary formations, passing 
through a band of stone so hard and unfractured that it 
would seem to have been thrown like a lid upon the pre- 
cious deposit, to keep it down ? If it now bursts its bar- 
riers with such violence upward, would it enter them by the 
mere force of gravity ? These are not the only difficulties 
in the way of that ready theory which traces the creation 
of oil to the distillation of coal. A still greater difficulty 
is to account for the existence, in such quantities, of in- 
flammable gas. Did the carbonetted hydrogen — so many 
times lighter than atmospheric air — also work its passage 
downward ? If it be replied that, in common with petro- 
leum, it was extracted from the coal at such low depths 
by subterranean heat, applied subsequently to its depo- 
sition, I ask again : Would not this heat have decomposed 
the water, which would have parted with its oxygen, and 
thus have converted the gas into carbonic acid, which is 
poisonous and not inflammable, instead of carbonetted hy- 
drogen, which has the very opposite qualities ? No theory 
is hedged in with difficulties so numerous and insuperable 
as that which traces to the coal-fields the existence of 
rock-oil. 

But if the manifest truth be admitted, that previous to 
the formation of our upper sedimentary rocks, an atmos- 
phere, containing its present constituents of oxygen, nitro- 
gen, carbon, and hydrogen, only in different proportions, 
perhaps, must have enveloped our globe, it is easy to see 
that " from the beginning," how far back soever we fix 
that date, hydro-carbons of various kinds must have been 
formed, whenever and wherever the temperature of the 



32 Physical Features, etc, 

earth, s surface permitted this. Whether coming into ex- 
istence, as bogs, fens, forests, and the like, to be converted 
by pressure into coal-fields and thence distilled into petro- 
leum and gas, or whether manufactured directly by heat, 
which might be generated by mere pressure or force as 
the equivalent of heat, in the laboratories of nature, we 
know nothing. One thing, however, seems probable, if 
not certain, namely, that as coal takes us back geolo- 
gically to a carbonaceous era anterior to existing bog or 
forest, so petroleum discloses to us another such era 
equally anterior to coal, at least anterior to the coal found 
on this continent. And witrrthis hasty attempt at solving 
what may, reasonably enough, be regarded as beyond the 
reach of an ordinary observer, I dismiss this part of the 
subject. 

At the same time, I would most earnestly invoke men 
of science everywhere to give it a more thorough exam- 
ination than it has hitherto received ; to come to the oil 
regions, and remain there for weeks and months, collect- 
ing pebbles, fossils, fragments, and all other materials ob- 
tainable from the nether world. Let them spend their 
time and labor as enthusiastic explorers of truth, not with 
a view to lend their names to this or that Mammoth Gas 
Bubble Company, for a consideration in dollars or dollars' 
worth, thus fastening a stigma upon science, as indolent 
and behind the age, while it panders to deception, if not 
by misrepresenting some facts, at least by a studied con- 
cealment of others. 



CHAPTER II. 

APPEAKANCE OF THE COUNTRY — THE CLIMATE — CHAKAC- 
TEEISTICS OF THE PEOPLE. 

The oil region of Pennsylvania *is entered at four 
principal points, which, may be termed the natural gate- 
ways of the country. Two of these the Alleghany River 
affords, it being navigable on the south from Pittsburgh, 
and (occasionally) on the north from Irvine, on the line of 
the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad. Rafts and flat-bot- 
tomed boats, indeed, come down from much higher points 
during spring and autumn. While a considerable propor- 
tion of the imports come by way of Pittsburgh, and large 
quantities of petroleum, both crude and refined, are daily 
sent down to that city, the great volume of travel to and 
fro passes by railroad. The Atlantic and Great Western 
Railway proceeds in a direction nearly parallel with Oil 
Creek, and at the average distance of about thirty miles, 
to the westward. The points affording communication 
with this trunk-line are Corry and Meadville, about forty 
miles apart, the former also touching the Philadelphia and 
Erie, now operated, under a lease, by the Pennsylvania 
Central Company. 

Taking the cars of the Oil Creek Railroad at Corry, the 
passenger is apt to find himself inconveniently packed by 
the way, and may not, indeed, be able to procure admis- 
2* 



34: Appearance of the Country •, etc. 

sion further than the platform, feeling only too happy 
that he is not among the disappointed company who have 
been left behind. After traversing an upward grade for 
a few miles and the table-land beyond, he finds the road 
entering a branch of the famous Oil Creek. Passing near 
Oil Lake and the village stations of Centre ville and Hyde- 
town, he at length reaches Titusville, distant twenty- 
eight miles, the two hours' ride costing only one dollar. 
At the depot he may bid adieu to cheap fares, good beds, 
clean sheets, and other characteristics of civilization "in 
the States." 

From Titusville the railroad proceeds down the valley 
to Shaffer's Station, nearly eight miles ; but most of the 
passengers stop off at the former, it being the business 
centre of the upper end of Petrolia, and the point from 
which future operations of any kind can best be carried on. 

The other gateway is Meadville, from which a branch 
railroad has been built by the Atlantic and Great Western 
Company to Franklin, twenty-seven miles, and thence to 
Oil City, seven miles farther, the latter section under the 
charter of the Oil Creek Eailroad Company. Between 
Meadville and Franklin this route follows the eastern 
bank of French Creek ; and from Franklin to Oil City, 
the south-western bank of the Alleghany. Around Mead- 
ville, which is very pleasantly situated among the hills, 
and nearly all the- way to Franklin, the country has been 
cleared and is under cultivation. The bottom-lands, 
though here and there washed away by recent floods, are 
as inviting in quality as the prices of farm produce are 
tempting in amount. The uplands have also been much 
more generally reclaimed along this line than on that be- 
tween Corry and Titusville. The line of the Philadelphia 



Appearance of the Cowmtry, etc. 35 

and Erie, from Corrj to Irvine, may be regarded as a 
medium between the other two. In general, it may be 
observed that the wide distribution of boulder-stones over 
the surface, and the difficulty of ascent and descent of the 
uplands, constitute more formidable impediments to farm- 
ing than the cold or tenacious nature of the soil. On 
some of the uplands or slopes, thirty bushels of wheat, and 
, more than twice that quantity of corn to the acre, have 
been raised. 

At either Titusville or Oil City the stranger finds him- 
self in a new world, this impression being no way lessened 
by hearing others speak about the latest news from " the 
States," or returning to them. This change addresses it- 
self to every sense. The objects which he is too apt to 
touch, in spite of all precautions, have a greasy, clammy 
feel His nostrils are assailed by gaseous odors, such as 
they probably never before inhaled in the open air. Into 
his ears is continually poured a stream of speceh, in a dia- 
lect essentially different from that taught in Webster or 
Worcester. Such phrases as " surface indications," " dry 
territory," " developed territory," " oil-smeller," with the 
names of a dozen implements unknown to the outside 
world, all uttered with earnestness and volubility, at once 
set his half-bewildered wits at work in quest of their 
meaning. He tastes petroleum and salt water, of course, 
to satisfy his curiosity or acquire information of their 
qualities. Then he sees — what does he not see, in the line 
of novelties ? — tall derricks and huge tanks standing on 
side-walks or in gardens ; engines running and walking- 
beams moving sedately up and down in the midst of what 
remain of the original forests ; drilling apparatus at work ; 
immense flat-boats or rafts floating down-stream with the 



36 Appearance of the Country, etc. 

current, or drawn upward by three or four horses abreast, 
plunging along the bed of the creek or river. If the wea- 
ther be cold, these poor creatures will be seen not only 
straining their muscles with desperation, as the inhuman 
driver applies the lash, but with their manes, tails, and 
sides thickly incrusted with ice, formed from the water 
splashed up, as they stumbled in the river-bed. If it be 
later in the season, he may behold a mile in length of 
boats rushing violently down-stream, that being the day 
when an artificial freshet has been made for this purpose 
by the opening of dams in the upper part of Oil Creek. 
As preliminary to all these novel spectacles, he has been 
treated to the filthy streets and wooden side- walks of Cor- 
ry, Titusville, and Oil City, the last bearing away the palm 
in point of disarray and disgust. He has also been made 
acquainted with the luxuries of hotel life, especially in 
regard to sleeping accommodations, with from four to ten 
straw beds in a single room, each tenanted by one, two, or 
three sufferers, according to the pressure exercised by the 
travelling public. On the parlor floors he has learned to 
become reconciled to an inch deep of mud or dust, while 
leathery beefsteaks are no longer regarded with contempt ; 
for with its many disadvantages, Petrolia has the one 
transcendent merit of creating a vigorous appetite. 

"With very little loss of time he takes to exploring the 
valley. I shall assume that he begins with the region 
back of Titusville, that Pennsylvania Venice, arising out 
of the mud, which in April is still sufficiently deep and 
liquid to float a whole navy of gondolas. If the side- 
walks are a little uneven, let them not be despised ; for 
the time is coming when a single plank will elicit an out- 
burst of welcome, as a god-send. Then there is Oil City, 



Appearance of the Country, etc. 37 

at the mere mention of which, Titusville is transformed 
into a capital with all the charms of Dublin or the neat- 
ness of Philadelphia. In the heart of that borough he 
finds large hotels or caravansaries by the half-dozen, and 
as many more in course of erection. On every hand new 
houses are rising under the incessant blows of the carpen- 
ter's hammer. At morning, mid-day, and evening, the 
screams of steam-whistles at the various machine-shops, 
foundries, and refineries, are painfully long and loud. In 
the various houses or sheds thrown up on the principal 
streets, where lots sell at New- York City prices, he finds 
whole platoons of land agents, lawyers, speculators, the 
agents of merchants and manufacturers, whose wares are 
likely to be in demand there, " drummers " of all kinds 
and from all parts of the country. He can hardly turn 
a corner without being " drilled to the third rock " by a 
pair of keen, inquisitive eyes, followed by the inquiry : 
"Do you wish some first-rate oil territory, sir?" "I 
would like to sell you a fourth interest in a fifty-barrel 
well." " Can't I furnish you with Jones's new patent 
blower or an Excelsior steam-engine ?" In the midst of 
such interrogatories, it is gratifying to learn that Mr. 
Smith yesterday " struck " a two hundred barrel well on 
Cherry Eun, and that Mr. Brown's has doubled its yield 
since he had it "reamed" out and that new "blower" 
put in. 

Determined, however, on piercing the heart of the coun- 
try, he hires a horse at ten dollars per day, and sets out 
on his pilgrimage down the valley. Immediately below 
Titusville, and above the confluence of the east and west 
branches of Oil Creek, he enters the celebrated Watson 
flats, a short distance beyond which he observes the der- 



38 Appearance of ike Country, etc. 

rick of Colonel Drake, erected in 1859, the first work of 
the kind in Petrolia. More than one hundred others, new 
and old, may now be counted within one mile of Titus- 
ville, especially near the point of confluence. Every thing 
betokens disorder, disarray, indifference to all except the 
one grand object of pursuit. There are no roads, no 
fences, and scarcely laws or regulations, except a few laid 
down in the leases or imposed by common consent. In a 
place where seemingly meum and tuum are confounded ; 
where every man appears to act for the day, regardless of 
the morrow, one might reasonably suppose that violence and 
even bloodshed would be matters of almost hourly occur- 
rence. So far from this, however, I am happy to say that 
there is probably no place in Christendom where human 
life is safer, and less danger to " portable property " exists, 
except from freshets and extravagant charges, than in and 
around Titusville. 

Proceeding down the creek, where one's best road, off 
the railway, is the uneven bottom of that impetuous 
stream, the valley is found to grow quite narrow — barely 
one hundred yards from bluff to bluff. On the heights, 
overhanging the railroad and creek, where heavy forests 
of pine, hemlock, or white oak once grew, little now, save 
brushwood and stumps with long, horizontal lines of shale 
and sandstone behind are visible, the scene being here and 
there diversified by a small unpainted cabin, or by the 
ubiquitous derrick. Between the precipitous heights the 
creek describes numerous sinuosities, always apparently 
butting its head with full force against the steepest banks ; 
in reality having made them such by dashing with such 
impetuosity against the rocks underneath. 

Here, as well as higher up, one meets tall gentlemen, 



Appearance of the Country, etc. 39 

encased in tall, shining boots, or what were such in their 
primitive state ; wearing tall, black coats, tall, black beards, 
and carrying tall, black valises. They are adventurers, 
in search of lands, appointments, interests in wells, or in- 
dividuals, whom they can sell and deliver equally with 
their property. 

For the five or six miles immediately below the Watson 
flats, little boring has been done — ten or a dozen wells to 
the mile or so. The section is pronounced " dry terri- 
tory." At Miller's farm or station symptoms of more 
activity are manifest ; and at Shaffer's, where the railroad 
terminates, a cluster of hotels and another of shipping- 
offices have sprung up. To that point boats, filled with 
petroleum, in bulk or in barrels, are dragged up-stream at 
nearly all seasons. The arrangements for unloading this 
from the boats, hoisting it (by means of horse-power) to 
the top of a high trestle-work, and thence conveying it to 
the extensive sheds which adjoin the railroad, are exten- 
sive and well adapted to the purpose. The only draw- 
back to the whole is the cruel treatment of the horse, 
whose lot has been made worse by the great discovery, 
though its benefits have been felt by whales disporting 
themselves in the Arctic seas. One's first impulse is to 
curse the day petroleum was first discovered, and to knock 
down the barbarians by whom the task of applying the 
lash has been voluntarily accepted. 

Beyond Shaffer's the nearly level bottoms begin to 
widen, affording the creek more abundant space for its 
frequent gyrations. Each of the half-moon flats beyond 
has a distinct name, usually given it after that of the for- 
mer proprietor, in connection with the farm lying imme- 
diately above and behind. Every flat has also its sys- 



40 Appearance of the Country, etc. 

tern of derricks, and, in general, characteristics of its own 
distinguishing it from those above and below. In passing 
downward the derricks will be seen to hug the bluffs more 
closely, and even to climb them, in places, to the height 
of one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet. For about 
midway between Titusville and Oil City the stranger has 
entered the great heart of the 'oil region, where the Sher- 
man, the Noble, the Empire, the Craft, the Wild-cat, the 
Jersey, the Coquette, and other famous wells were former- 
ly, or are now, wont to discharge (by flowing) their hun- 
dreds of barrels per day. Each of these famous producers 
has its own street or block of black, dirty, greasy tanks, 
from two or three to ten or twelve in number, with an 
aggregate capacity of between five thousand and fifteen 
thousand barrels. Most of these are roofed over and lo- 
cated close to the creek, with a view to easy loading in 
the barges. From their bottoms exude streams of the 
dark green liquid, which crawls along by slimy paths to 
the creek, covering its entire surface with a film of petro- 
leum. Many barrels of it thus escape every day, to the 
deep regret of the looker-on, who wishes he had the facil- 
ities, with the right to use them, for preventing such a 
waste. "With a clear sky overhead, the different hues formed 
by this " oil cast upon the troubled waters " are exceed- 
ingly delicate and beautiful, and can hardly have failed 
to suggest the extraction of certain rich and rare colors, as 
analine, from this wonderful product. 

On every farm henceforward is a village, bearing the 
farm, name, or the affix " ville " as a substitute. The 
names and the settlements are, indeed, about equally out- 
landish. If the one be prosy, the other is slatternly, in 
muddy weather indescribably so. Thus, within the space 



Appearance 'of the Country, etc. 41 

of ten miles, we have the names of " Funkville," " Mc- 
Clintockville," " Tarr Farm," " Kouseville," " Ehind 
Farm," as well as other places of less repute. " Petroleum 
Centre," as it has a decent name, has a pretty situation, a 
good bridge, and is laid out with some degree of regular- 
ity. But as its site is the prettiest, so the naming of it 
would seem to have absorbed all the poetry in the valley. 
The village usually consists of a number of oil companies' 
offices, about twice as many boarding-houses, perhaps a 
school-house, where religious services are held occasionally 
on Sundays, a hotel or two with their wonted accommo- 
dations, in the shape of sitting-rooms and bed-rooms, for 
which the modest price of three to four dollars per day is 
charged. In Kouseville, Plumer, and one or two other 
points, banks have been established. Post-offices abound, 
nearly every farm having one ; and the telegraph extends 
to every nook and corner in the country as fast as a good 
well is struck. The number of houses in these villages 
or hamlets ranges from ten to fifty, and the population, 
exclusive of strangers and pilgrims, from one hundred to 
eight hundred. The houses are built of weather-boards 
and strips only, being guiltless of paint on the outside or 
of lath and plaster within. On some farms the streets are 
laid out with a fair degree of order, and the more elevated 
spots are selected ; in others, the law of lawlessness pre- 
vails, and a goodly number got immersed in the late 
freshet. As to drainage, fencing, shrubbery, or gardening, 
these are all in the future tense and conditional mood. 
Once, and only once, I did notice a discharged soldier en- 
gaged in planting a little grass-plot in front of his cabin. 
Probably one half the engineers and laborers sleep in 
cribs attached to the engine-houses, and some even cook 



4:2 Appearance of the Country, etc. 

their own meals there, in order to escape a charge of seven 
or eight dollars per week for board and the coarse accom- 
modations had in the boarding-houses. If there is one 
cow in that part of Petrolia, she escaped my observation. 
Even the dog-tribe are far from being numerous. 

Nearly every mile along the lower part of the valley, 
a " run " discharges its waters into the creek, running at 
the bottom of a ravine, more or less deep and wide, ac- 
cording to the volume of its waters. The principal of 
these entering from the east are Bull Eun and Cherry 
Kun, (the latter at Eouseville, three miles above Oil City.) 
On the west side are Bennehoof, Cherrytree, and Corn- 
planter Buns. On Cherry Run, however, are more works 
than on all the other tributaries of the creek ; while in 
point of productiveness it disputes with Oil Creek the 
claim of supremacy. At its mouth, and for some miles 
above, the derricks stand as thickly as the masts of ship- 
ping in the East River, at New-York. They evidently 
mean to dispute possession of the uplands with the squat- 
ter sovereigns. 

One of the most remarkable phenomena of the valley 
is the large proportion of idle wells — in some localities 
at least nine tenths, and in the most active three fourths. 
The visitor will hear various reasons assigned for this un- 
expected idleness — reasons which I propose to discuss 
elsewhere, contenting myself for the present with noticing 
the fact. 

The highway is coextensive with the bottom ; and if 
that be not found sufficiently capacious, the traveller is at 
full liberty to annex a portion of the bluff or table-land. 
As the soil is clayey, and as it rains every other day, dur- 
ing the spring months, while literally no attention is paid 



Appearance of the Country, etc. 43 

to the roads, (so-called,) the reader will please fill up the 
picture, as to travelling facilities, to suit his own taste. If 
to the sticky paste be added wriggling rivulets of water, 
coated with grease, settling in numerous basins or pud- 
dles, across which one has to work his passage, by leaping 
from, prostrated tree-stem to stump, plank, rail, iron tube, 
stone, old boiler, walking-beam, or whatever other object 
he can reach — these operations being accompanied by an 
occasional downfall, and a frequent splash of mud and 
oil up to the hat — perhaps the indescribable enjoyments 
of a foot-march through Petrolia may be conceived. But 
I had almost forgotten that the stranger who has been 
thus far conducted through the country is supposed to be 
a gay cavalier, not " doing " the region on his own nether 
extremities. 

As if to afford frequent opportunities to wash and be 
clean, the creek cuts across the highway, that is, the val- 
ley, every half-mile or mile. The horse can ford it with- 
out trouble ; but for the humble pedestrian there is no 
means of crossing save by a ferry-boat or rope-ferry, 
where the toll is five cents for each trip. These " institu- 
tions " are chartered under authority of the State, to whose 
treasury each pays an annual tax. of ten dollars. For this 
paltry sum he secures a monopoly for a long distance 
above and below ; and as it sometimes happens that, af- 
ter a good well has been struck, a new ferry must be 
started, it becomes necessary to pay Charon ~No. 1 a " roy- 
alty " of so much on every passenger transported a dis- 
tance of seventy-five feet 1" I fully agree with the obser- 
vation made by one of these boatmen, that he would not 
exchange his skiff for a good oil-well. 

Added to the natural disorder prevalent in the oil re- 



44 Appearance of the Country, etc. 

gions, are the wrecks produced by the great freshet of this 
spring, the most destructive that ever visited any portion 
of the Northern States. It not only swept down the 
river numbers of houses and immense quantities of pe- 
troleum, but deposited all along the low lands fragments 
of boats, dwellings, engine-houses, furniture, fuel; over- 
turning derricks, carrying off wooden platforms laden 
with engines, and hurling the whole with resistless force 
against bridges, which shared the common fate. The 
side-walks in Oil City have been left wherever the capri- 
cious element chose to deposit them ; a huge flat-bottomed 
boat was dropped in the principal street ; dwellings and 
factories were lifted from their foundations, and moved 
hither or thitheri— perhaps to encroach on the thorough- 
fares, perhaps to stand at a different angle to them. With- 
in half a mile of the built-up portion of that u city," 
boasting of its burgess and council, the carcasses of no 
fewer than twenty horses, which had perished during the 
flood, were suffered to lie unburied nearly a full month, 
and may be perfuming the atmosphere to this very day I 

Oil refineries, belching forth clouds of black smoke, or 
(as is quite common) lying idle, form one of the features 
in the landscape of those valleys. They are for the most 
part small establishments, each with a capacity not ex- 
ceeding three hundred barrels per week. The mode of 
treating petroleum, so as to prepare it for use, is explained 
in another chapter. 

The stranger will quickly master the difference between 
wells in progress and those completed. The engine- 
houses and derricks of the one are comparatively clean 
and white ; after striking oil, however, they get coated 
with the universal pigment, and turn as black as the 



Appearance of the Country ', etc. 45 

smoke rolling out of the chimneys. Men's clothes aie, 
of course, in keeping with the general scene. "Water- 
proofs are made without cost in Petrolia. 

The various tributaries of Oil Creek, and the Upper 
Alleghany, are too small and rapid to afford facilities for 
boating ; hence, the oil has to be conveyed by wagons, 
which are hauled over roads, whose equals exist no- 
where else. Formed originally by the teamsters to suit 
their own convenience, they are kept in order only by 
the debris which is washed down from the heights, and 
remain floating masses of slush, huge fragments of rock 
filling more or less of their unfathomable depths. It 
would appear that the only conceivable way of mending 
their ways in Petrolia was to apply fresh curses and kicks 
to the poor horses. 

Arriving at that perfection of filth and disorder, Oil 
City, the visitor finds a newly extemporized borough, a 
mile and a half in length, which hugs the base of the 
heights west of Oil Creek; then crosses it, and pushes 
up the face of the eastern slope for one hundred and fifty 
feet, where at length it begins to expand itself, as if con- 
scious that it can do so safely for the first time. The view 
presented from " Cottage Hill " is certainly picturesque, 
and the contrast presented between that charming spot 
and the slovenly avenue beneath cannot fail to make a 
profound impression. The noble Alleghany, three hun- 
dred yards wide, sweeping along the bases of the hills, 
and receiving, not only its tributes of numerous creeks, 
with their many-colored waters, but scores of barges, 
steamboats, and other vessels, constitutes a most attractive 
part of the scene, the effect perhaps heightened by the 
physical lawlessness of the lower city. In the distance 



46 Ajipewrance of the Country r , etc. 

round-shouldered and pyramidal hills, their angles and 
terraces standing out sharply, constitute a grand back- 
ground to the picture. 

Up and down the Alleghany for about twenty miles; 
along French and Sugar Creeks for half that distance, as 
also along the various tributaries of all those waters, with- 
in the distance stated, the scene is similar to Oil Creek, 
though mostly in a less marked degree. 

THE CHIEF TOWNS. 

The principal centres of population and business in 
Petrolia are the following : 

Corry, situated at the point where the Atlantic and 
Great Western Eailroad intersects the Philadelphia and 
Erie, and where the Oil Creek line terminates, is a thriv- 
ing village, containing between three thousand and four 
thousand inhabitants. Half a dozen years ago it had nei- 
ther a local habitation nor a name, and scarcely as many 
log-huts in the heavy forests. Indeed, it is still literally 
" in the woods," the valuable portions of which have alone 
disappeared, leaving the stumps and roots standing in the 
principal thoroughfares. Corry is pleasantly situated, is 
regularly laid out, and is fast becoming a prominent busi- 
ness point. The establishment of the Downer oil-refinery 
there, (the largest in that region,) by some sagacious men 
from Boston, gave the place a great impetus, which prom- 
ises to continue for some time. Ordinary sized lots on 
the principal street sell at from two thousand to three 
thousand dollars each. In no part of the country are 
more new houses in progress. Corry contains two banks, 
four churches, one respectable hotel, public schools, 



Appearance of the Country, etc. 47 

a lecture-room, (in which poor concerts draw better than 
lectures,) a newspaper-office, from which a weekly inde- 
pendent journal (The Telegraph) is issued. In its popula- 
tion the Eastern element predominates. 

Ttiusville, named after one of the early settlers in that 
valley, contained about one hundred and fifty inhabitants 
before the oil excitement ; it now contains probably five 
thousand, besides a considerable floating element. It has 
four or five refineries, barrel-factories, machine-shops, and 
foundries, (the whole employing nearly five hundred 
men ;) also two banks, the usual assortment of churches, 
(which appear to well sustained,) a theatre, and a large 
number of hotels. The only newspaper issued is a week- 
ly, (The Reporter,) which is independent in politics, and 
conducted with spirit. The proprietors contemplate the 
establishment of a daily shortly. The situation of Titus- 
ville is too level and low to be easily drained ; and in fact 
the attempt would seem to have been given up. The 
place is regularly laid out, however, and the outskirts are 
decidedly attractive. Population orderly, enterprising, 
and largely on the increase. The derrick is already be- 
ginning to make inroads on the gardens. If successful 
in the search after oil, there is no telling to what figure 
the price of lots will advance. Already they are higher 
than in Corry. 

As Oil City has the most disgusting name in all Petro- 
lia, so every thing else is in keeping therewith. One of 
its first and best sustained institutions was a race-course, 
laid out on the summit of the highest hill, " for improving 
the breed of horses;" while those wretched quadrupeds 
were left to flounder, lie down, and die on the horrid 
thoroughfares, termed streets, below. Folly kills itself ; 



48 Appearance of the Country, etc. 

for, except on Cottage Hill, the place has almost ceased to 
grow. Even with the extension of the railroad thither, 
it is "a finished town." Population, about five thousand, 
besides a thousand or two of floating elements. Oil City 
has two banks, half a dozen hotels, ten oil refineries, four 
or five churches, (including those in progress,) and a pub- 
lic school building, nearly completed. Two weekly news- 
papers, representing the great political parties, are printed 
there. The creek at Oil City is about sixty yards wide, 
and is crossed by a trembling structure, termed a bridge, 
which the authorities permitted a company to erect on the 
foundations of the one swept away, charging five cents 
for the privilege of crossing ! The creek divides Oil City 
into two nearly equally large sections ; though that on its 
western side is more populous. A suburb is rising on the 
opposite bank of the Alleghany, which is connected with 
" the city " by two rope-ferries. The place is altogether 
a new creation. An interesting fact in connection with 
it is, that an Indian tribe has recently put in a claim for 
the ownership of two thirds of its site, which, it is asserted, 
was granted by the State to " Cornplanter," a noted chief 
of the Senecas, about thirty years ago. The matter is 
about to be litigated. 

Franklin is situated at the mouth of French Creek, 
seven miles below Oil City, and contains nearly three 
thousand inhabitants, besides a large ingredient of " drift." 
Its site is on the whole pleasant, and the streets are spa- 
cious and regularly laid out. Having been a county-seat 
before the era of petroleum, its public buildings (court- 
house, churches, etc.) are more substantial than either 
stylish or outlandish. New churches and public schools, 
both spacious and elegant, are among the improvements 



Appearance of the Country, etc. 49 

contemplated at an early day. At different points in the 
village derricks have arisen ; but many of them are now 
idle, and withal far from being attractive objects. Frank- 
lin is situated on the south-west side of French Creek, 
which is there one hundred yards broad. The lower 
bridge crossing it was carried away by the flood ; but the 
magnificent suspension bridge across the Alleghany es- 
caped. Franklin has two weekly newspapers, which ap- 
pear to be well supported. The bulk of its population 
still belong to the old stock of settlers. Excepting a bar- 
rel-factory, and some small oil refineries, (on the other side 
of the creek,) the manufactures of the place are of little 
account. As a distributing point, it ranks next in im- 
portance to the places already noticed. 

Franklin boasts of an antiquity of a full century. The 
point below the confluence of the river and creek was 
selected by the French for the site of one of their chain 
of forts connecting their Canadian possessions with Louis- 
iana ; but of that work not a trace is now visible. In 
1754, General Montcalm visited the place, and in his re- 
port of it took occasion to describe the war-dances and 
religious worship of the aborigines. Among other mat- 
ters he refers to their mixing oil, gathered from the neigh- 
boring creek, with their war-paint ; also to their use of it 
in sacrifices, kindliDg it with torches, at the sight of which 
they set up a shout that made the valleys ring. Strange 
that a whole century should have elapsed before the pale- 
face set up his shout over the discovery. 

Meadville is the largest, prettiest, and most cultivated 
place in the oil regions, having between eight thousand 
and nine thousand inhabitants. Its situation on a trib- 
utary of French Creek, surrounded by gently swelling 
3 



50 Appearance of the Country, etc. 

and well-cultivated hills, is equally healthy and attractive. 
Meadville is noted as a seat of learning, having, besides an 
excellent system of public schools, two colleges, one (Al- 
leghany) belonging to the Methodist, and the other (a theo- 
logical school) to the Unitarian denomination. The open- 
ing of the Atlantic and Great Western Eailway has con- 
tributed greatly to the progress of that place ; and it de- 
rives a portion of its prosperity from Petrolia, though 
twenty miles west of the field of operations. "Three week- 
ly newspapers are printed there, and the Eailway Hotel 
claims to be the best in the world. 

Warren, like Corry and Meadville, lies on the outskirts 
of the oil region, being about fifty miles above Oil City 
by river. Navigation, however, is open only to Irvine, 
and that after a rise of water. Warren is an old county 
town, on the line of the Philadelphia and Erie Kailroad, 
and contains nearly twenty-five hundred inhabitants, with 
the usual public buildings and newspapers. It has just 
begun to feel sensibly the ground-swell of the petroleum 
development. A number of wells are in progress near 
Warren, and, if successful, it will leap upward like Corry 
or Titusville. Irvine is an unpretending railroad station, 
seven miles below Warren, with a well-kept hotel, and 
two or three small factories. 

Tideoute is an old village, or rather two villages joined 
together, pleasantly situated on the west bank of the Al- 
leghany, fourteen miles below Irvine. It has two church- 
es, hotels, barrel-factories, and about two thousand inhab- 
itants. The famous Economy wells lie on the opposite 
side of the river. 

Tionesta is a growing village, with perhaps five hun- 
dred inhabitants, about ten miles below Tideoute. It is 



Appearance of the Country, etc. 51 

situated on the east side of the river, at the mouth of 
Tionesta Creek. East and West-Hickory are incipient 
villages higher up-stream, as is President lower down on 
the Alleghany. All these have their groups of wells 
completed or going down ; and may be said to have been 
called into existence by the discovery of petroleum. 

THE CLIMATE 

of that section of Pennsylvania is a subject of universal 
complaint in the spring season, when it is certain, the in- 
habitants say, to rain at least every other day. There is 
a good deal of truth in this remark. From the middle of 
March till the latter part of April, there were never three 
consecutive days, and seldom two, without rain or snow 
falling. As .throughout the whole Mississippi valley, the 
prevailing winds are from the cardinal points, the south 
and east gales being hot and moist — in other words, 
bringing thither from the Atlantic and the Mexican Gulf 
the moisture-laden vapors, which, upon being struck by 
dry, cold, currents from the north and west, give out their 
superabundant moisture in the form of rain, hail, snow, 
etc., according to the season. The atmospheric current 
preceding such a visitation is invariably succeeded by one 
blowing from the opposite direction, except where it is 
deflected from its course by mountains or waters. In fact, 
it would appear as if the precipitation of rain were di- 
rectly due to two currents blowing in contrary directions 
at the same time — the lower from the south or east, and 
the higher from the north- or west, and that with the gra- 
dual descent of the former toward the earth's surface the 
wringing-out process in the latter took place, thus creating 
a vacuum, into which a fresh gale rushes from the ocean. 



52 Appearance of the Country, etc. 

The dry, magnetic winds from the interior would soon 
lick np the moisture not carried off by the streams, were 
it not for puddling of the surface to so great a depth by 
animals and vehicles. These general observations extend 
to the entire heart of the continent, as well as to the oil 
region of Pennsylvania. 

In the latter, however, a local influence exists, such as 
is not so sensibly felt further westward and southward. At 
the lower end of Lake Erie, large quantities of ice remain 
long after the "Western rivers, and even the upper portion 
of that lake, have been cleared. The hot, moist winds 
from the Atlantic naturally make for the lower end of the 
lake, where they assist in thawing the ice ; but in so doing 
are themselves wrung out by coming in contact with the 
belt of cold atmosphere immediately above it. Hence 
those frequent changes in the direction of the winds at 
that season, the numerous rainy days or parts of days, not 
making, in the aggregate, perhaps more inches of water 
than elsewhere under the same latitude ; but coming at 
short notice, and upsetting calculations, make living there 
more unpleasant than it otherwise would be. One interest 
alone, the hotel-keepers, reap large profits from this dis- 
pensation ; while the servants are oppressed with double 
duty if they attempt to preserve cleanliness in spite of 
muddy boots, muddy clothing, muddy luggage. If it be 
true that every man must eat his peck of dirt some time, 
in no other region is there an opportunity for dispatching 
this task so hastily as in Petrolia. 

THE PEOPLE. 

That man should be superior to his accidents is, we are 
told, the fundamental principle of true democracy. On 



Appearance of the Country, etc. 53 

the whole, the Petrolians are superior to their surround- 
ings or circumstances. It takes time, however, to study 
their good and less good points of character. The stran- 
ger who visits that country in quest of fortune or infor- 
mation, is apt to form erroneous conclusions respecting 
them, the first few days. At the principal gateways lead- 
ing thither, he is certain to encounter a class different from 
the great body of operators in the valleys. The former 
consist largely of hangers-on about hotels and boarding- 
houses, who are in quest of victims ; of roystering, blas- 
phemous teamsters and boatmen ; of disappointed fortune- 
hunters, preparing to return home, and having a very low 
estimate of life and manners in Oildom. Everywhere he 
finds exorbitant charges, without an apparent disposition 
to oblige. If he be a religious man, he will be hourly 
shocked by profanity ; if a humane man, at the brutality 
with which the lower animals are treated ; if a man of 
generous instincts, at the intense selfishness, the sordid love 
of gain, so widely prevalent ; if a man of taste and culture, 
at the outlandish condition of the houses and the streets, 
with the indifference of the people toward intellectual pur- 
suits, beyond the immediately practical. If he proposes 
to introduce any other topic of conversation beyond the 
never-ending, still-beginning themes of oil and war, oil and 
politics, he will presently find his company thinning out. 
Ten minutes' loud conversation on philosophy, literature, 
science, or religion would give him full command of a 
parlor, or even a bar-room. For the inhabitants of those 
large towns removed thither to make money, and do not 
mean to be turned aside from the one grand object of 
existence. 

It would be wrong, however, to judge the entire popu- 



54: Ajppeavcmce of the Country, etc. 

lation by this ingredient. Nay, (in Titusville,) I met one 
saloon-keeper who keeps up his old reading habits. Hav- 
ing pierced the crust of mere adventurers, speculators, and 
peculators, bespattered men and dowdy women, let the 
visitor traverse " the rural districts," and he will discover 
intelligence, refinement, even generosity. As a class, the 
superintendents of the large companies are gentlemen of 
culture, who would adorn any society. Not a few of them 
were commissioned officers in their country's service, who 
have gained honorable distinction ; some were conductors 
of newspapers, who have carried with them to that solitude 
their abundant knowledge of men and measures appertain- 
ing to the outside world. They are ready, at all reason- 
able times, to impart useful information, and the observa- 
tions gathered by this body of officials ought to be regarded 
as treasures of no ordinary value. 

And in point of kindness of heart and readiness to 
oblige, the engineers, drillers, and others engaged about 
the works will compare favorably with any other body of 
men I have ever seen. Where they could not give the 
trustworthy information sought, they were ever ready to 
put me on the trail after it. Of hoggishness, or a deliber- 
ate purpose to deceive, not one in fifty could be justly 
charged. Can the outside world produce a cleaner record ? 

Not that any class of employes are perfect in every re" 
spect. The officers are supposed to comprehend clearly 
more than one mode of raising gas as well as oil ; and in 
many instances, I fear, are too ready to wink at the bad 
schemes of stock-jobbers and speculators, if not to lend 
them active support. A kind of lax morality prevails that 
misrepresentation is, if not justifiable, at least excusable,, 
when committed in the interest of one's employers. Hence 



Appearance of the Country, etc. 55 

the vast exaggeration in the yield of wells, and the studied 
concealment of facts that would injure the sale of stocks 
or interests at fictitious prices. The Spartan law, as a so- 
cial regulation, is still too generally obeyed ; for most of 
us chuckle when we hear of a dishonest operation, provid- 
ed the performer has been smart and successful in his 
stratagems to pick other persons' pockets. 

No community on the face of the earth has a smaller 
proportion of drones to the number of working bees than 
Petrolia. This observation applies to city, village, and 
single shanty. Nobody but has a hand engaged in some 
business or pursuit ; many in half a dozen. If a man be- 
takes himself to mercantile life, he reckons upon giving it 
from twelve to fifteen hours per day, filling up his leisure 
moments with speculation or an agency. The young fel- 
low who would stand at the street-corners elsewhere, there 
kills two birds with one stone by offering to sell wells, or 
interests in wells, or leases, or refusals to those whom he 
can button-hole. If Satan found mischief only for the 
idle, his occupation would be gone in the oil region. Per- 
haps the high cost of living has impelled the slothful as 
well as the diligent to this remarkable activity, but it seems 
to be an admitted principle on all hands that people have 
gone thither to work. On this account, the country is es- 
sentially orderly. Property as well as life is more secure 
than in any Eastern city. Even drunkenness is by no 
means as common as might be expected, in view of the 
rough-and-tumble modes of life prevalent. I have seen 
less of it in Oil City or Titusville than in country towns 
of the same size elsewhere. Yet I clo not believe that one 
( man in fifty is a member of the temperance association. 
It is said that the vice of drinking prevails to a consider- 



56 Appearcmce of the Country, etc. 

able extent on Sundays on some of the farms, but the 
wonder is that it should not have become universal. 

Last fall, intense excitement prevailed near Oil City, 
caused by the dead body of a resident having been found 
close by it. He had been murdered in open day. An 
indignation meeting held appointed a vigilance committee, 
and the whole population joining in chase of the crim- 
inals, they hastily decamped. It is supposed they were 
part of a gang from the East, who expected to " operate" 
in Petrolia as some of them had done in California. 

During the first three or four years of the oil excitement, 
little respect was shown to the first day of the week, and 
few attempts at establishing Christian worship were made 
outside the focal points. The flowing wells poured out 
their wealth on that day as on the remaining six, and the 
pumps copied, as far as possible, after the others' example ; 
so the people pumped, and barrelled, and drove, and ship- 
ped petroleum on Sunday as well as Saturday. Man lives 
not by oil alone, however, any more than by bread. A 
change has been gradually taking place in this respect, 
giving man and beast the advantage of a septennial day of 
rest. Perhaps this improvement was brought about by 
the men refusing to work ; perhaps as a stroke of policy, 
to retain the more sober and steady portion of the mecha- 
nics and laborers ; perhaps from conscientious motives on 
the part of the large companies. Sunday work seldom 
takes places now, except in wells which have been flood- 
ed, or are in danger of becoming unserviceable for a time, 
in consequence of the water getting the upper hand. 

At Eouseville, Petroleum Centre, and a few other points, 
small buildings have been erected, to serve for chapels on . 
Sunday and school-houses during the week. I am inclin- 



Appearance of the Country, ete. 57 

ed to believe these are better sustained by commutations 
in money than bj personal devotiou, and that the worship- 
pers are more disposed to purchase tickets to the Celestial 
City for their friends and relatives than to get aboard of the 
cars and ride themselves. Like some other matters of 
importance, this is left till the fortune-hunters return to 
"the States." The fact is, in Petrolia, the church uni- 
versally believed in is an engine-house, with a derrick for 
its tower, a well for its Bible, and a two-inch tube for its 
preacher, with mouth rotund, "bringing forth things 
new and old," in the shape of two hundred barrels per 
day of crude oil, mingled with salt water. In the prin- 
cipal business-centres, regular societies have been insti- 
tuted ; but that practical Christianity which leads men 
not only to love and fear God, but love mercy and hate 
covetousness, is not in a flourishing condition. Indeed, 
I fear some of the " under shepherds" are more intent 
on oil development than in rebuking the vices and fol- 
lies of the community ; otherwise, it seems to me, profan- 
ity would be a little less common ; some sympathy would 
be shown to the brute creation ; selfishness and swin- 
dling would at least feel ashamed of themselves. I heard 
of a promising young divine who was making a good 
impression among his auditors, one of whom made him 
a present of a one- sixteenth interest in a well then go- 
ing down. Oil was struck, and the gift was converted 
into twenty thousand dollars; whereupon the preacher 
retired on a competency. Let us hope that others will not 
thus be drawn aside by a glance at the hill Lucre. 

The former proprietors in that part of Pennsylvania 
-were largely descended from the Protestant part of the 
Irish population ; and to this day retain many of the char- 



58 Appearance of the Country, etc. 

acteristics of their ancestors. As a rule, they are slow, 
stead j, cautious, thrifty, and strong-willed. Nearly all have, 
on selling out, removed to Ohio or Western New-York, 
purchasing farms, and investing their surplus means in 
public securities. Many of them expect, after this whirl- 
wind blows over, to regain possession of their farms at a 
tithe of what they pocketed from Eastern agents. The 
new-comers are a mixture from all parts of the country. 
California, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, and Missouri being 
represented with New-England, New- York, and Pennsyl- 
vania. Even Yirginia, the Carolinas, Kentucky, and 
Tennessee have representative men there. 

The Petrolians are nothing if not geological. Nearly 
every operator is ready to discourse learnedly on rocks, 
formations, strata, (in the singular number !) shales, sand- 
stones, (comprising every thing from limestone to conglom- 
erate.) As in nature, so in human nature — no two agree. 
A, after describing "a most remarkable phenomena," is 
positive that the best wells are to be found on the east side 
of all runs and " criks." B asks you to examine " that 
strata,' 1 and concludes that prudent men should bore only 
on the slopes. C, an old gentleman, fussy and seedy-look- 
ing, avers that the country is of volcanic origin, and is. 
ready to point out certain rents in the hill-tops, through 
which Yulcan and his helpers found passages for the smoke 
and cinders of their forges ; whence the petroleum. It 
would be uncharitable to surmise that either of these sa- 
vans had a personal object in view, in the sale or leasing 
of land ; yet stranger things have happened in Petrolia. 
But of all original characters, the most amusing is the 
ancient ploughman, wood-chopper, or flat-boatman, meta- 
morphosed into a millionaire and a scholar. "This is 



Appearance of the Country, etc. 59 

Sugar Crik," observed one of these newly extemporized 
linguists, " and that is a contributory to Sugar Crik ; and 
the symptoms of ile is very premonitory I" Others are 
in the habit of pointing out the great benefits certain to 
flow from the further " envelopment" of the country. It 
is clear that Dame Partington has given some valuable 
lessons in Western Pennsylvania ; indeed, who knows but 
that her ladyship has " oil on the brain " ? 

Health is the rule, and sickness the exception, there, in 
spite of the many drawbacks. Few persons exhibit the 
lean forms and sallow complexions so common in other 
parts of the country. On the contrary, as the men have 
a look of boldness and vigorous purpose, so they present 
the appearance of physical robustness in an unusual de- 
gree. This may be traceable, in part, to the circumstance 
that the hardships and privations felt there drive away the 
more feeble in mind, body, or purpose, who are thus 
strained out of the community. But there is more than 
this. The rough, wholesome, open-air exercise connected 
with this new life, the fresh mountain air, the fresh water 
pouring forth from a thousand springs, have built up the 
physique of hundreds of young men who previously lan- 
guished behind desks and counters in the cities ; have 
given them buoyancy of spirit as well as strength of limb, 
such as they never before enjoyed. The diseases to which 
strangers are said to be liable are principally connected 
with the digestive system, as diarrhoea, dysentery, etc. ; 
but it is questionable whether these are traceable to the 
water so much as to exposure and over-exertion, especially 
working up to the knees in water, and remaining in damp 
clothes. 

Of preparations for farming or gardening operations, 



60 Appearance of the Country, etc. 

this spring, there are none. Speculation has become so 
rife that it extends to the uplands, which are accounted 
"too valuable" (such is the slang) for agricultural pur- 
poses. The little supply of milk that reaches the valleys, 
and nearly all the vegetables, equally with the supplies of 
meat and grain, come from great distances. The author 
believes that the best paying wells this year may be struck 
within eighteen inches of the surface, by drilling with a 
plough, reaming with a hoe, tubing with garden-seeds, 
and pumping with manure. 

" Olei sacra fames /" The insane desire of oil is demor- 
alizing. It leads to every imaginable kind of misrepre- 
sentation and cheating. In every transaction involving 
profit and loss, falsehood is expected, is looked upon as the 
rule, truth as the exception. This indifference to veracity 
and honor does not merely extend to matters connected 
with the oil- wells, but to those of every- day life — to en- 
gagements entered into by landlord and tenant, by me- 
chanics, laborers, etc., whenever a slight advantage may 
arise by violating them. This " covenant-breaking," 
where no other obligation than a man's word exists, forms 
a topic of general complaint in Petrolia ; and at this mo- 
ment, it is not too much to say that no one expects his 
neighbor to certainly fulfil the conditions of a merely 
verbal contract 



CHAPTER in. 

LOCATING AND SINKING THE WELLS. 

In the earlier days of well-sinking, the inexperienced 
operator planted his derrick and drilled his well wherever 
he detected " surface indications " of petroleum,- probably 
little thinking that it might show itself on the ground at 
a point far from vertical to its proper source in the sand- 
rocks. In general, the margins of rivers and creeks were 
preferred to spots more distant, even though equally low ; 
hence the first crop of derricks grew up close to Oil 
Creek and the Alleghany. Even at this late day there is 
little to guide the adventurous operator beyond the con- 
ceded existence of oil-veins in the inferior rocks, which 
circumstance, however, could only become known by mak- 
ing numerous experiments. A new profession of men, 
claiming to be gifted with extraordinary powers, has 
arisen in Petrolia, namely, " oil-smellers "or " diviners." 
Let not the pious reader start with alarm, lest the practice 
of divination, (whatever it may have been,) condemned so 
repeatedly in the Mosaic code, has been revived in West- 
ern Pennsylvania and Yirginia. ISTo devil, demon, ghost, 
ghoul, fairy, goblin, or table-tapping spirit is known or 
believed to be at work, albeit the use of a twig of witch- 
hazel or peach might readily enough suggest to some the 
calling up of spirits from their vasty deep by modern en- 



62 



Locating and Sinking the Wells. 



chanters. The mode of operating is substantially as fol- 
lows : The diviner cuts from one of the trees mentioned, a 
bifurcated bough or twig, reducing the stem and the forks 
to about a foot in length, for convenience' sake. In each 
hand he grasps firmly one end of the fork, letting the stem 
point upward and a little inward. The hands should be 
held with their backs downward. With this simple ap- 
paratus off goes the "smeller ;" and, on arriving above an 
oil- vein, it is claimed that the twig will turn round in his 
hands, in spite of his utmost exertions, until the stem 
points directly downward. It may be grasped so tightly 
that the rind will peel off by the operation ; yet this will 
not prevent the revolution in his hands. The author once 
witnessed this operation going on in the hands of a gen- 
tleman of much intelligence and the utmost veracity, who 
was not a believer in the oil-smeller's claims or preten- 
sions, yet had to acknowledge the existence of the phe- 
nomenon for which he could not account. It appears that 
the twig has not this remarkable power in the hands of all 
persons ; for the author was unable to perceive any change 
or tendency in the wand in his own hand, on arriving at 
the same spot. Whether the difference were owing to 
magnetic influence or other cause, is unknown ; as also 
whether the motion betokens the presence of water, petro- 
leum, both, or neither. In England, it is said, the witch- 
hazel has long been used in this manner for the discovery 
of coal; in some parts of the Eastern States people try it 
to alight upon water-veins. In the oil-regions, some of 
the most productive wells have been located by oil-smell- 
ers ; in more cases, however, their vaticinations of first- 
class works turn out mere moonshine. However, the di- 
viners have become a power in Petrolia, among a people 



Locating and Sinking the Wells. 63 

as keenly inquisitive and practical as are to be found, who 
reason in this way : " If there be any thing in oil-smelling, 
we may as well avail ourselves of it as not; for the diviner 
charges only from twenty -five to one hundred dollars for his 
services in examining a tract ; and this is an inconsiderable 
item in the general expense, seeing we mean to bore any 
how." There is a pretty general impression that he is a 
better guide negatively than positively ; that while oil 
may not be struck just where he directs, it is useless to 
sink where he has pronounced none to exist. In a word, 
the charmer, magnetizer, or natural magician has more 
real power among the operators than the latter are willing 
to openly concede. 

The principal matters now attended to in locating a 
well are the following : The ground ought to be low, to 
make as little drilling as possible suffice ; yet not so low 
as to be subject to floods. The lesson taught by the late 
freshet has been a most costly one in this respect. There 
should be sufficient space nearly level, for the derrick, en- 
gine-house, tank, etc. ; this secured, they may be placed on 
the top of a knoll or the face of a bluff. There should be 
no hard boulders on or immediately below the spot where 
it is proposed to drill, as the driving-pipe must descend 
perpendicularly. It is of some consequence to have facil- 
ities to reach navigation for shipping the product and re- 
ceiving a supply of fuel. But the one prime considera- 
tion on the part of experienced men is, to plant the der- 
rick on a spot directly on a line between two paying wells, 
where there is doubtless the best chance of striking a good 
vein. Indeed, without breaking ground, the managers, 
whose well-springs are thus threatened, may take the 
alarm, and offer to buy out the new-comer at his own 



64 Locating and Sinking the Wells. 

price. For this is one of the methods by which operators 
sometimes make their fortune. 

A spot having been selected, the next business is to get an 
engine, erect the engine-house, the derrick, and other out- 
works. The house is a simple structure of rough boards, 
with perhaps a bunk for the engineer's sleeping apartment. 
The derrick stands at the distance of thirty or forty feet, 
the walking-beam, which plays upon a heavy upright pil- 
lar, called "the samson-post," stretching between them. 
The walking-beam is a heavy timber, from fifteen to 
twenty feet long. The derrick is a sort of pyramidal 
structure, resting on a square base, each of its sides being 
* from ten to fifteen feet long, and rising to a height of forty 
or fifty feet, the summit approaching a point. The four 
principal pillars are strongly laced together by cross-tim- 
bers, into one of which rungs are driven, to make it serve 
as a ladder. Occasionally the whole structure is covered 
with boards, making it look like a tower ; but more fre- 
quently they are content with protecting the driller from 
the elements. Under the apex rests a pulley -block, 
through which passes the long and powerful cable used 
in the work. The object in making the derrick so tall is 
to enable the workmen to use a longer and heavier drill- 
ing apparatus than formerly ; its various parts, when put 
together, forming a continuous iron bar of thirty feet in 
length. It also enables them to withdraw or put down 
the tubes more readily. The weight of the tools now 
used in drilling commonly exceeds one thousand pounds, 
striking a powerful blow at each revolution of the crank. 

The next step is to put down the surface-pipe or driv- 
ing-pipe to a sufficient depth, so as to prevent earth or 
stones from falling into the pit, either while drilling goes 



Locating and Sinking the Wells. 65 

on or afterward. This is a work both of difficulty and 
delicacy, since the pipe must be forced down through all 
obstructions to a great depth ; while it must be perfectly 
vertical. Sometimes a hard boulder is encountered below 
the surface, which bends the tube to one side, in which 
event the work has to be abandoned. The depth to which 
operators usually force this down varies, many striving to 
drive it some distance into the first sand-rock, while others 
content themselves with reaching twenty, thirty, or forty 
feet. The pipe, made of cast-iron, has commonly a five- 
inch aperture and is one inch thick, being cast in lengths 
of nine feet. The apparatus for forcing it into the ground 
is a pile-driving machine, very simple in its construction 
and mode of 'Operation. A wooden wheel and axle, 
termed the " bull- wheel," is geared to the engine by means 
of a stout rope, which, in the hands of one of the work- 
men, can be made tight to the axle or let slip at any mo- 
ment, the rope being wound four or &ve times around it. 
When the engine and crank move, up rises the ram, 
a block of ibur hundred or five hundred pounds, to a 
height of perhaps six feet, between strong wooden shears 
to keep it in its place ; the rope is then let slip, and the 
ram descends with a stunning blow on a plate or cap 
placed on the top of the pipe. At every blow a percepti- 
ble movement of the tube downward takes place ; and it 
has sometimes happened that the driving-pipe could be put 
down its required length in little more than a day ; in very 
hard ground, however, the operation may consume a whole 
week. The object of the bull- wheel, to the outside of 
which hold-fasts are nailed at short distances apart, is to 
operate as a brake, in the first place, so that a downward 
motion can be checked at any point in operating the well, 



66 Locating and /Sinking the Wells. 

and also to enable the workmen to raise or lower the 
tools, tubing, etc., in case the engine should not be run- 
ning. By the aid of the pulley above, and the leverage 
of the wheel below, one man will, using hands and feet, 
bring half a ton up from the nether regions. 

Sometimes, indeed, the pile-driver proves unable to 
force the driving-pipe to its desired depth, owing to a bed 
of sand- rocks intervening. In this case, it is customary to 
set the drill at work, making a three-inch opening through 
the obstruction. This creates a vacuum, into which the 
fragments broken off by the pipe in its descent can fall, 
when the ordinary appliances above are apt to force it 
downward. Otherwise the men will be compelled to pull 
up stakes and try elsewhere. Colonel Drake was the man 
who introduced this implement into the oil regions, as 
also sundry other valuable improvements. 

Now begins the task of drilling — a task requiring from 
four weeks to as many months. A strong cable is coiled 
round the bull-wheel axle, and passed through the pulley- 
block at the top of the derrick, its other en<J having at- 
tached to it, by strong clamps, an instrument called "the 
temper-screw." This is ordinarily about three feet long, a 
thread being cut into it for half its length. As the chisel 
used in boring is indirectly connected with the screw, it 
will be seen that by turning the latter on its stem the 
former can be elevated or depressed at pleasure, until the 
end of the thread has been reached, when it becomes ne- 
cessary to open the clamps and attach the instrument to a 
different point on the cable. This turning of the screw 
has to be done by hand, instead of being regulated by the 
engine, on account of differences in the hardness of rocks, 



Locating and Sinking the Wells. 67 

some allowing a full revolution at every few blows, others 
only once in five minutes. 

To the lower end of the cable are attached successively 
"the sinker," "the jars," "the auger-stem," and "the 
centre-bit," "drill," or "chisel," the whole being of iron 
or steel, and nearly thirty feet in length. The auger-stem 
is about fifteen feet long ; the sinker, eight feet ; the jars, 
three feet, and the drill, two and a half feet. The jars 
consist of two slender iron bars, so framed as to slide into 
each other fifteen or eighteen inches. The object of this 
instrument is sufficiently indicated by its name. It hap- 
pens frequently that the chisel gets fast in a crevice or 
mud- vein, while the cable, several hundred feet in length, 
stretches so far that it is impossible to communicate to the 
drill that jerking motion which might extricate it. But 
the sides of the jars having, by the weight of the sinker 
above, been pressed into each other, like those of a tele- 
scope, the raising of the cable imparts a jerk to the tools 
below, ordinarily sufficient to remove them. Not always, 
however ; for I think it within the truth to estimate one 
well in every ten sunk as being idle this moment from 
the tools having got fast below. In some localities, one 
may hear of every sixth well having been abandoned on 
this account. 

The drill or chisel is about thirty inches long, and two 
and a half inches in diameter, with a three-inch face. It 
is attached by a screw to the auger-stem, which is about 
equally thick, its principal object being to give weight to 
the blow ; while that of the sinker, as already stated, is 
to cause the jars to slide into each other. The cable is a 
stout inch-and-a-half rope, and must be sufficiently long 
to pass over the pulley and reach down to the bottom. 



68 Locating and Sinking the Wells. 

The engine — usually a portable one, giving from eight 
to fifteen horse-power — having been fired up, makes its 
first revolution, communicating, by a crank, motion to the 
walking-beam, which, in turn, moves the cable and the 
drilling apparatus. The driller takes his seat above the 
devoted spot, adjusts the chisel to it, and down it descends, 
striking thirty or forty blows to the minute. Between 
the strokes it requires to be kept moving round, to make 
the opening uniform and prevent accidents to the tools. 
With this there is also combined a slight downward mo- 
tion, every few strokes, by a turn of the temper-screw. 
One blow tells the whole story. Hour after hour, day 
and night, the drill keeps churning up and down, punch- 
ing the rock, and accomplishing from one to six inches 
per hour, according to hardness. At intervals, the appa- 
ratus is raised, and the centre-bit taken off, to be replaced 
by the " reamer." This is a round bar of iron, faced with 
steel, the centre and sides of its face being more or less 
hollowed, while its length (usually four and a half to five 
inches) corresponds with the proposed diameter of the 
well. The object of this instrument is to smooth the 
sides and widen the orifice to its proper size. In working, 
it requires to be kept turning and sinking as does the 
chisel. 

The reamer is followed by the " sand-pump," an iron or 
copper tube about five feet long, with a valve opening up- 
ward in its nether extremity. On lowering this pump 
into the pit, the valve opens, and the pulverized rock, re- 
duced to a pulpy mass, is drawn into the tube, hauled up 
to the surface, and discharged. 

The sand-pump occasionally brings up, from the first 
sand-rock below the surface, small quantities of oil ; but 



Locating and Sinking the Wells. 69 

his is apt to receive no attention, operators knowing that 
it will soon exhaust itself. More frequently a good vein 
may be struck in the second rock ; but on the lower part 
of Oil Creek and on its tributaries, this is usually allowed 
to pass unheeded. On the Alleghany and on French 
and Sugar Creeks, they seldom drill further than through 
this stratum. Elsewhere, on entering and passing through 
the third layer, " a good show " is most eagerly looked 
for, as the sand-pump comes up, filled with the gray, 
sloppy mass from beneath. If this begins to turn darker 
in color, separating into a thick, heavy sediment, which 
settles on the ground, and a green, slimy liquid, which 
floats away toward the nearest hollow, great indeed is the 
rejoicing; for the prospect of one hundred thousand dol- 
lars is within view. Indeed, the vein struck may, in an 
instant, anticipate reamer, sand-pump, tubing, and every 
thing else, sending up a spirt of petroleum which shall 
smite the top of the derrick and drive away the work- 
men, its rage only cooling sufficiently to permit them, af- 
ter the lapse of a day or two, to return, insert the tubes, 
and guide the generous overflow into the cistern. 

Examples of such inordinate zeal and energy are, how- 
ever, very infrequent — certainly not more than one in a 
hundred, especially in localities which have been already 
well bored and pumped. The last instance that occurs to 
my memory was near Petroleum Centre, the freakish well 
being situated high up a ravine, far from its fellows. It is 
supposed to have discharged two thousand barrels before 
being brought properly under control. Much oftener the 
"show" is followed by an uprising of salt water, with 
perhaps only a few globules of oil to the barrelful. This 
water must be exhausted before a better quality of liquor 



70 Locating and Sinking the Wells. 

makes its appearance ; and in some cases days and even 
weeks have been spent in the process. 

Setting aside such extreme cases, however, we will sup- 
pose that oil is actually got in paying quantities. The 
next process is to tube the well ; though many prefer first 
to sink it some feet deeper, in order to furnish a recepta- 
cle for sand or gravel that may be washed in by the new- 
ly opened veins. To put in the tubing successfully, it is 
not only necessary for the superintendent to have some 
general knowledge of the mode of operating, but the 
characteristics of that particular locality. A mistake in 
this respect is apt to be attended with serious losses of 
time and money, some wells having had to be re-tubed as 
often as forty or fifty times within six months. The most 
experienced managers express the belief that large num- 
bers of wells are totally unproductive from defective tub- 
ing. The tubes, of iron, are usually two inches in diam- 
eter, by about fifteen feet long, the ends screwing into 
each other. These are raised somewhat, in order to give 
greater strength and furnish a hold for " the tongs." To 
the lower end of the first joint is attached "the chamber," 
a copper vessel containing the pump-valves. This being 
got ready, the tube is hoisted upward by the tackle, and 
let down into the orifice. An instrument called " the 
pipe-tongs " lays hold of the tube at the joint, and pre- 
vents it from falling in till the second section is screwed in, 
when it is lowered further. This process continues to go 
on, section by section, till the work is completed. Oper- 
ators differ as to the depth to which the chamber should 
be lowered ; one of the most successful in the oil region 
says it ought to go within twenty -five or thirty feet of the 
bottom. Three or four men can put down five hundred 



Locating and Sinking the Wells. 71 

feet of this in a common working-day. The weight of 
such a continuous pipe is between eighteen hundred and 
two thousand pounds, all depending from the tongs, 
which rests on cross-pieces of timber at the opening of 
the well. 

By accident or design it has sometimes happened that 
the clasp of this instrument has been opened, letting the 
tube drop to the bottom, and occasioning much loss as 
well as trouble to recover it. For this purpose two in- 
struments may be made use of. One is a short iron bar, 
made sufficiently sharp at the lower extremity to enter the 
tube and slide some distance into it, attaching itself to 
the inside surface by means of " steel dogs." The other 
is somewhat trumpet-mouthed, so as to slide over the end 
of the tube, and catch hold of its outer surface in the 
same manner. But in neither case is success certain to 
follow ; and the manager may have the mortification of 
finding all his efforts followed by the abandoning of the 
work. 

Before the well usually takes to flowing, and always 
before it can be pumped to advantage, it must be " seed- 
bagged." The object of this process is two-fold — first, to 
prevent the escape of gas upward, except through the 
tube, where it will assist in forcing up the oil ; and second, 
to prevent the descent of water or gravel from above, 
which would have to be pumped up again at almost in- 
finite trouble and expense. It will readily be seen what 
a heavy pressure is thus brought upon the bag which sup- 
ports a column of water from two hundred to four hun- 
dred feet high, as also upon the tube itself. To effect this, 
a strong leather bag, shaped somewhat like a boot-leg, is 
filled with flax-seed and drawn over the pipe, alon^ 



72 Locating and Sinking the Wells. 

which it is made to pass down to the required depth, hav- 
ing been first made fast to a joint — the lower end of the 
bag very securely ; the upper rather loosely, so that, in 
the event of having to withdraw the tubes, this fastening 
may break, and the bag turn over and inside out, spilling 
the contents and letting down the column of water. 
When the flax-seed gets soaked it bursts, swelling to such 
a degree as completely to fill up the vacant space between 
the tube and the outside wall, putting an effectual stop 
to all movements in that quarter. But it sometimes hap- 
pens that the seed-bag bursts, in which event three days 
are apt to be lost in replacing it and pumping out the 
surface water which accumulated below. Experts usually 
place the seed-bag between the second and the third sand- 
rocks, if oil is got from the latter, say at the depth of 
three hundred and fifty feet ; but in the event of its coming 
from the second, then at such a distance from the surface 
as will shut off all the fresh water without interrupting 
the flow of an oil- vein. Mr. Bliss, an experienced and 
successful operator, puts in the tubing first, without the 
seed-bag, and pumps out all the sediment at the bottom. 
He then puts in the bag ; and although this involves a lit- 
tle loss of time at the outset, he observes that he has 
never had to seed-bag a second time, as others often do. 
Thus equipped for duty, if the well does not evince a dis- 
position to flow profusely, the pumping machinery is set 
at work. -The pump-rods are of wood, their ends fas- 
tened together. This simple apparatus is connected with 
one end of the walking-beam, already described ; an iron 
pipe is also joined to the upright tube, to receive the pe- 
troleum and convey it to the tank at any required dis- 
tance or situation. The first movements require to be 



Locating and Sinking the Wells. Y3 

made cautiously, until it has been ascertained that every 
part is in working order, when more steam is let on. Up 
comes the brine or the oil, but more commonly both, the 
former in much larger proportion at the outset. 

The tank or cistern is a circular vat, made of wood, and 
having a capacity ranging from two hundred to twelve 
hundred barrels. The custom formerly was to make this 
vessel square, securing the timbers by heavy uprights ; 
but its greater tendency to leak has made that give place 
to the circular form. When wells discharge copiously, it 
is customary to erect whole streets or blocks of these 
enormous vessels, covering them with a long range of 
roofing. For purposes of shipment, it is desirable to get 
them convenient to the road or some navigable stream, 
which is sometimes lined with the black, slimy monsters 
for long distances. The tanks are connected together by 
a system of pipes, which distribute the liquid from one 
to another. Near the bottom of each is inserted a stop- 
cock for letting the salt-water escape, after settling there 
by its greater specific gravity. In spite of all precautions, 
the leakage of petroleum through the wood, or its waste 
in filling into barrels, is considerable, so that on many 
farms it would pay well for collecting. Some managers 
have caused pipes to be laid down, by which vessels can 
be laden in bulk — a mode of preventing loss in more re- 
spects than one. In the flowing wells, little or no water 
comes up with the petroleum ; in the pumping wells, the 
two may be found in all imaginable proportions. The 
brine also differs in strength, being in some cases equal to 
that found at Syracuse, New- York, and in others tasting 
slightly brackish. It differs also in some localities, ac- 
cording to the season, being weakest in spring, when the 
4 



74 Locating and Sinking the Wells. 

fresh suiface- water has found its way to the springs, by 
careless or malicious individuals ' and companies letting 
their works get out of order. 

The cost of sinking and tubing a well of five hundred 
feet, which is the ordinary depth of those lately put down 
on Oil Creek, but is less than the average of wells on 
Cherry Eun or Pithole, is between seven thousand and 
seven thousand five hundred dollars, unless the proprietors 
own the steam-engine or other part of the apparatus re- 
quired. In this case, it will amount to between four thou- 
sand and five thousand dollars, a good-sized new engine 
costing twenty-five hundred dollars on the ground. At 
the beginning, wells could be bored for fifteen hundred dol- 
lars, and even one thousand dollars, including the outlays 
for engine and machinery, on account of the cheapness of 
materials, labor, and fuel, as also the smaller depth to 
which it was customary to sink the wells. If the work 
be now let out to a contractor, it will cost from five to 
seven dollars per foot, in addition to outlays for derrick, 
engine, and other fixtures. If workmen be engaged by 
the day, first-class machinists, carpenters, blacksmiths, 
etc., must be paid five dollars per day ; drillers, about four 
dollars ; engineers, about three and a half ; and common 
laborers, from two to three. Two sets of drillers and 
engineers usually relieve each other, the machinery run- 
ning the full twenty -four hours. Teamsters command from 
thirty -five to fifty dollars per month, with board and 
lodging ; the other figures suppose the employes to pro- 
vide these for themselves. The cost of horse-hire is very 
heavy — in winter, enormous — the charge for a double 
team and driver being at least ten dollars per day. The 
bituminous coal made use of, though it might be obtained 



Locating and Sinking the Wells. 75 

from hills not ten miles off, comes from Pittsburgh and 
costs from sixty cents to one dollar and twenty cents per 
bushel, according to the season and the distance of trans- 
portation by wagon. 

To obviate the last-named outlay, now becoming op- 
pressive, Mr. Wade, superintendent of the Lady's well, 
applied the escaping gas to the generation of heat with 
the most triumphant success. Large numbers of engines 
are now driven by this carbonetted hydrogen, which is, 
without difficulty, conveyed from the tube into a large 
barrel or cistern, and thence into the furnace. Nothing 
could be more beautiful, economical, and perfectly safe 
than this arrangement. The few splinters of wood thrown 
upon the grate in the morning to. light the fire, serve also 
to keep it agoing all day. The gas is used to give light 
in - the engine-house at night, and has, in at least one in- 
stance, been conveyed to a private dwelling, where it is 
used for ordinary culinary and heating purposes. Such 
economy has hitherto been a rather novel feature in the 
management of affairs in Petrolia. 

On the other hand, a similar experiment made at the 
Auburn well, on Cherry Eun, belonging to the Cherry 
Yalley Oil Company, resulted unsuccessfully, diminishing 
the daily flow of sixty barrels to less than one half of 
that quantity. The attempt was consequently abandoned, 
when the former flow returned. The company have since 
then inserted a clause in all their leases, prohibiting those 
who put down wells on their premises from using the gas 
as fuel. 

To the best of my knowledge, this is the only instance 
in the oil region of Pennsylvania, where such an effect 
has followed the introduction of gas as fuel, whether 



76 Locating and Sinking the Wells. 

taken from pumping or flowing wells. On making in- 
quiry on this subject, from the manager of one of the lat- 
ter class, I learned that they had made repeated experi- 
ments, and in no instance with a diminished yield of oil. 
But in this case there was a very large volume of gas escap- 
ing ; while the production of oil was far below that of the 
Auburn well. In the latter, the gas appears to have been 
barely sufficient to expel the liquid, having so little sur- 
plus energy to spare that its capture and imprisonment 
proved too much for exhausted nature. The propriety, 
therefore, of using gas as fuel must, it would seem, de- 
pend upon its quality and strength relatively to the dis- 
charge of oil, and perhaps to the time during which a 
well has been in operation. In some instances, a single 
tube supplies gas to two, three, four, even six engines/ 
without any apparent detriment to the yield of oil. 

It has been stated that along two small streams the wells 
have to be sunk deeper than on Oil Creek. The differ- 
ence varies from fifty to two hundred feet, and is due sole- 
ly to the higher elevation of those bottoms at the place of 
carrying on operations. To reach the same rock on any 
of the tributaries of Oil Creek, it will, indeed, be neces- 
sary to make allowance for this elevation, adding or sub- 
tracting more or less for the natural inclination of the 
rocks. Some operators, it is true, report that in the wells 
planted against the bluffs or on the table-lands, it is not 
requisite to sink as many feet deeper as the difference in 
surface elevation would betoken. I reply that this state- 
ment is partly made with a view to selling lands or wells, 
and partly to mistaking the second rock yield for that of 
the third, the former being unusually copious for these 
times on account of the comparatively great distance from 






Locating and Sinking the Wells. 77 

other wells. It is possible that on the uplands the bed 
which corresponds with the first sandstone of the valley 
will in places yield copiously for a time. 

On passing down the Alleghany Kiver, and entering 
the valleys of French and Sugar Creeks, owing to the 
southern dip of the rocks, a depth of between one hundred 
and two hundred feet additional must be sunk before 
striking the third layer. So far the custom there has 
been to stop at the lower margin of the second stratum, 
or between four hundred and five hundred feet down. 
The petroleum coming from that bed is everywhere bet- 
ter in quality than that obtained lower down ; and on 
French and Sugar Creeks is of the rich, heavy, and high- 
priced kind known as lubricating oil. In its crude state, 
it sells for many times the price of the illuminating va- 
riety ; but is never got in such large quantities as the lat- 
ter. The Alleghany oil readily commands one dollar per 
barrel more than that obtained from the third sand-rock 
on Oil Creek or its tributaries. 

During the past twelve months, derricks have been 
erected and boring has commenced in the various rivu- 
lets discharging into the principal streams ; but in some 
instances also operations have begun on the open table- 
land, at elevations of two hundred or three hundred feet. 
That the uplands will yield abundantly I have no manner 
of doubt, the veins there being probably quite as nume- 
rous and productive as those in the river-bottoms. "Whe- 
ther the existing appliances will suffice for wells from three 
hundred to four hundred feet deeper than the present re- 
mains to be seen ; but if not, American ingenuity will 
doubtless remove all obstacles in the way of the further 
development of the upper region. 



78 Locating and Sinking the Wells. 

Allusion has been made to the loss of tools by striking 
crevices in the rocks. Some experienced men regard this 
as a happy omen of the early discovery of petroieum ; 
since it is usually found in such caverns or pockets, which 
are believed to have originated in geological dislocations. 
It is supposed that they are connected by subterranean 
channels, so that when one is penetrated a whole system 
of rich springs will be opened. Experience does not fully 
bear out such expectations ; and hence the loss of tools 
is apt to occasion bitter regrets rather than congratula- 
tions. Above Petroleum Centre, a mud-vein is apt to be 
struck in the middle of the third sand-rock ; and so fre- 
quently have the tools got fast in it that it has become 
customary to stop short there, instead of boring through 
it. The depth of wells there will, accordingly, be found 
on an average fifty feet less than lower down the creek, 
where this obstacle does not present itself. 

A rough estimate of the whole cost of sinking a well 
has been given above. Making some allowances for "the 
chapter of accidents," it will be seen that the average out- 
lay amounts to about fifteen dollars per foot, distributed 
nearly as follows : 

Engine and boiler of fifteen horse-power, delivered, $2,500 

Engine-house, derrick, bull-wheel and cable, samson-post, walking- 
beam, and fixtures, 750 

One tank, five hundred barrels, 250 

Drilling-tools, ram, driving-pipe, tubes, etc., 1,000 

Labor, fuel, and extras, 2,500 

Breaks, delays, and other accidents, say, 500 

Total, §7,500 

These figures may perhaps be reduced one half, if the 
operators own the engine, and put forth their own hands 
freely in the various operations. 



CHAPTER IV. 

"STRUCK OIL" — THE LAW OF LAWLESSNESS. 

At last, the labor, the anxiety, the profuse expenditures 
of long months have been crowned with triumph. The 
sand-pump has brought up unmistakable evidences of the 
existence of petroleum, which floats upon the surface of 
its load of mud in long, dark streaks, most gratifying to 
behold. The well in question is one success, after two, or 
it may be ten, failures, and gives promise of paying all 
expenses connected with the whole number. A .grand 
halo of wealth, and beauty thenceforth rests upon every 
adjoining field and patch of wood, which has become in 
some measure sacred. That which was almost valueless 
yesterday is viewed as a princely inheritance to-day. The 
omnipresent telegraphic wire has already caught up the 
joyful intelligence, and whispered it to all the outskirts of 
Petrolia, as also to interested parties in Wall, Chestnut, 
and State streets. Before the setting of that day's sun, an 
excitement will have sprung up in all parts of the oil re- 
gion, and crowds of speculators, operators, and curiosity- 
seekers will have been on the way to a spot which exceeds 
all the dreams of poets or" relations of prophets about Par- 
nassean and Castalian springs, fountains of perpetual youth, 
philosophers' stones, miraculous blessings of widows' 
cruses, etc. One well, with its one thousand or even its 



80 "/Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 

one hundred barrels per day, would justly have been re- 
garded as a world's wonder ; this, being a matter-of-course 
affair in Petrolia, receives the attentions of few except 
those who propose to make money out of it. What is 
" common" not only ceases to be wonderful, but becomes 
in a measure " unclean." If, however, in the realms of 
poetry and miracle there be little or no interest, in that of 
solid fact there is abundance to make up for the deficiency. 
As the greasy liquid finds its way into the tank, the 
achievement occasions a triumph to the workmen, brings 
fortune to its owners, attracts fresh millions to the country, 
and furnishes pabulum for excitement to all. The modern 
miracle is thus a sand-pump, which may bring up a mil- 
lion of dollars at a single ascent. 

But here, at the outset, comes in " the law of lawless- 
ness." For precisely as every human being has his own 
set of features, tone of voice, and the like, so each indi- 
vidual oil-spring has its characteristics, with regard to the 
escape of water, gas, petroleum, or all three. In one, the 
flow of the last-named will be continuous and uniform, 
day and night, not varying more from week to week than 
a spring-brook. It may or may not be accompanied by a 
large escape of gas, visible to the naked eye, though it 
ordinarily is by some. In such a flowing concern, there 
is no noise, except the splash of the liquid falling into the 
tank. But in others, a regular periodicity takes place in 
the discharge. The Coquette well, for example, emits a 
succession of sounds as loud and sharp as the exhausts of 
a small steam-engine, and occurring in tolerable order 
every ten seconds, in such a manner as 1, 2, 3, 4 ; 1, 2 ; 
1, 2, 3 ; 1, 2, 3, 4 ; sometimes two of these coming off 
together by an extraordinary effort. A copious discharge 






16 Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 81 

of gas comes off with each of these eructations, ascending 
from the tube like a thin smoke, to mingle with the at- 
mosphere. The Wild-Cat well, at Petroleum Centre, and 
the Yankee, on Cherry Eun, remain silent for forty and 
twenty minutes respectively ; then begin to foam and spirt, 
the oil coming off at first only in drops, but increasing by 
degrees until the tube belches forth quite freely ; these 
discharges afterward decrease in violence, and finally stop 
altogether, after the lapse of from five to eight minutes. 
Each escape of liquid is accompanied by a sharp report, 
which may be heard one hundred yards off or more. Both 
wells have been some months in operation, and belong to 
the second class, their yield being under one hundred bar- 
rals per day. Those which have a continuous flow are 
apt to produce more abundantly, as do the Eeed and the 
Mountain wells, on Cherry Eun, and the Craft well, on 
Bull Eun. Yet this rule is not universal ; for the Coquette, 
discharging spasmodically, is the most productive in that 
whole region ; while a well on Cornplanter Eun rather 
drips than flows one or two barrels per week. 

Others again are found to remain quiescent for twenty- 
one or twenty-two hours in the day ; then to break forth 
in one continuous flow, or a succession of belchings, for 
the other two or three hours. A few run for six hours, 
and then subside, or distribute their favors over twelve 
hours in the twenty-four. The Dunn well, on Watson 
flats, produces freely from morning till midday ; then the 
supply diminishes or stops altogether, for the rest of the 
day, the pump bringing- little but salt water. But in the 
case of the pumping-wells, the rule is pretty common to 
spirt forth from a few drops to several quarts at each re- 



82 " Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 

volution of the engine, varying according to the season, 
but not modified by day and night. 

No person has yet arisen who can explain the full ra- 
tionale of these vagaries on the part of Nature. No one 
cause can be assigned which will account for all the phe- 
nomena. There can be no doubt that the efforts of the 
imprisoned gas to escape into the upper atmosphere have 
much to do with forcing up the oil ; yet in numerous 
works of the largest flow the escape of gas is comparative- 
ly small, and altogether insufficient to carry such a column 
of liquid up the tube. For it is needless to observe that 
a discharge of three thousand barrels per day would al- 
most completely fill a two-inch tube, making in it a nearly 
unbroken column for the height of five hundred feet. 
Would the comparatively small body of gas escaping 
therewith be sufficient to force upward such a load, exert- 
ing a pressure that is practically unknown in hydraulics ? 

In the cases of spasmodic wells, the gas may have a 
great deal to do with bringing petroleum upward — in 
many, there can be no earthly doubt on the subject. While 
visiting the Dunn well, the superintendent conducted an 
experiment that proved this point satisfactorily. They 
had been using a portion of its gas in the furnace to gen- 
erate heat, but on turning it all on the fire, the discharge 
of oil and water stopped instantly. After a few minutes, 
the gas was partly permitted to escape as before, when the 
yield began to return to its former amount. In plain Eng- 
lish, the energy of the gas coming up the tube was insuf- 
ficient to do its work, and bear the additional pressure upon 
it necessary to its confinement with a view to use. While 
on this subject, I may mention another curious experiment 
made by the same manager, (Mr. Morrell,) who conducted 



"Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 83 

this gas through paper surrounded by ice. The result 
was that the gas was converted into a white, wax-like 
substance, which settled on the paper, and is supposed to 
have been paraffine. 

Nor will the theory that the oil and briny veins are ' 
supplied from springs higher up in the hills, suffice to ac- 
counlror the phenomenon. For, in the first place, there 
is no evidence that such elevated sources exist close by in 
quantities sufficient to feed such wells as the Philips, (flow- 
ing nearly four thousand barrels daily for a considerable 
period,) and force it up to the surface. The origin of most 
of our water-springs is easily accounted for by percolation 
through the under-strata from higher levels ; but in the 
case of Artesian wells, constructed on such interminable 
plains as those of Texas, this theory proves insufficient to 
account for the outburst which has followed. Whatever 
the agency or mode of operating on Nature's part there, 
in my judgment, the like has been at work in forcing up 
much of the rock-oil. 

Even if, as in nine cases out of ten with productive 
wells at first, and in all ultimately, an application of the 
pump be required, the same lawlessness is found to prevail 
as does in the flowing wells. We can calculate with cer- 
tainty upon nothing in the oil-basin ; we need feel sur- 
prise at nothing — not even if the yield should be Orange 
county milk. The first revolution of the engine may 
bring up petroleum or salt water of any imaginable degree 
of strength. Nay, in a few instances, fresh water has come 
up with the former. One of these was near the famous 
Sherman well, where the two liquids had to be separated 
by artificial means. The case of the Sherwood and Kelly 
well, on Cherry Eun, which threw up three thousand bar- 



84 u Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 

rels a day of fresh water to the height of sixty feet, fling- 
ing out fragments of rock several pounds in weight, is not 
so remarkable, as this vein was struck at the depth of 
seventy feet, and may have been fed from the hills above. 
' There was no oil with that water, and I refer to the cir- 
cumstance to show one of the obstacles that muskoccasion- 
ally be encountered by operators. 

It may require days or weeks to exhaust the heavy 
liquid (brine) before the lighter comes within reach of the 
pump. In one instance, the proprietor having got the 
impression that oil certainly existed, kept on pumping for 
six weeks before his efforts were rewarded with success. 
The best well (Ingersoll) now in operation on the Watson 
flats was incorrigible until nearly the whole winter months 
had been exhausted in forcing up the salt water ; at last, 
it also yielded to perseverance, emitting a stream of from 
fifty to seventy barrels daily. There is every reason to 
believe that hundreds of works have been abandoned by 
those in charge of them, because, after pumping a few 
hours, the petroleum did not make its appearance ; yet 
the perseverance which wrenches victory out of defeat 
might have made them productive. For it is one thing to 
be flooded with salt water at the outset, before oil has been 
reached, and another to keep on pumping a well which 
has gradually declined from a high figure to nothing, in 
spite of re-tubing and all the other known appliances. 

And why, except from a disposition on the part of Dame 
Nature to indulge in freaks, should water be found float- 
ing on the surface of oil, the latter being the less ponder- 
able of the two ; while gas, coming up with it, is impon- 
derable? Various explanations have been offered; yet 
none, in my opinion, that will account for the regularity 






"Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 85 

of this phenomenon. It has been supposed that, in con- 
sequence of carrying the lower end of the tubing below 
the level of the petroleum, the latter cannot enter the ori- 
fice until the former, lying beneath it, has been expelled. 
This crude theory is confuted by universal experience ; 
for it surely could not help happening sometimes that the 
tube would be so conveniently short as not to pass beyond 
the petroleum. Besides, if substances arranged themselves 
in the well according to their specific gravity, would not 
the gas make its appearance first, instead of its awaiting 
the removal of the water, and then assisting to expel the 
more valuable liquid ? Once more, the sand-pump shows 
that, in numerous instances at least, the salt veins are 
reached in boring rather earlier than the oil veins ; though 
I concede that the testimony on this point is any thing but 
explicit or uniform. But it occurs often enough to refute 
the notion that the oil actually reaches the top in the 
wells and settles there. 

Another explanation has been offered, namely, that a 
vein or veins may be struck at a point below the general 
level, where they are fed from reservoirs somewhat higher 
up ; hence that, inasmuch as the brine would settle to the 
bottom in the natural crevices, it must be pumped out 
prior to the oil and gas being able to come downward and 
forward. Further, that it is by tapping the source at the 
right place that such immensely productive works as the 
Philips, the Noble, the Sherman, and the Coquette have 
begun to produce at once such prodigious quantities of oil, 
and that almost entirely free from water. This theory is 
much more satisfactory than the former ; yet it will not 
suffice to explain the regularity — almost uniformity — of 
brine being found first in order. If, in the multitudes of 



86 "Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 

experiments made, petroleum came first as often as does 
the salt water, it would not be necessary to look further. 
Unfortunately for it, such is not the case. It does not 
appear reasonable that the lower reservoir should be al- 
most invariably struck by borers, and the upper scarcely 
ever. Some other solution of the difficulty must be sought 
to cover this unexpected regularity in the heaviest sub- 
stance coming up first — one which will apply to the 
ninety-nine cases as well as the hundredth. Elsewhere I 
have alluded to Mr. Morrell's experiment of separating oil 
and water in the atmospheric pump ; though whether this 
will apply when a quantity of gas is mixed with the 
liquids, I am not advised. 

And whence the salt that, in the form of brine, gushes 
upward from depths of one hundred or one thousand feet ? 
Those who entertain the theory that petroleum has been 
distilled from the upland coal-beds which once existed 
along the present oil-basin — the products percolating 
through the different strata to their present depths — ac- 
count for the existence of salt-springs by the fresh water 
filtering downward mixing with muriate of soda in suffi- 
cient quantity to form the brine. But to account satisfac- 
torily for depositing in the rocks the quantity of muriatic 
acid necessary for this purpose, is every whit as difficult 
as to answer the original question. It has been only re- 
moved one stage further off. The salt water has its po- 
sition in the scale, as has the fresh water its assigned 
position or limit. Above the first sand-rock, the water is 
invariably fresh ; between the first and the second, it is 
expected to be such ; below that stratum, it is as certainly 
expected to be brackish or briny, the degree probably 
depending on the proportion of fresh water let down the 



"Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 87 

orifice, while the work of drilling has gone on. As a rule, 
the surface water does not go down through the second 
rock, or the brine force itself above it, until an artificial 
opening exists, the exceptions being so few in either case 
as to establish the general principle here laid down. Be- 
sides, we all know that water, in passing through sand or 
clay, is apt rather to part with impurities than take 
others up. 

The only satisfactory explanation of the existence of so 
many salt-springs is, that the strata in which they abound, 
at one period in the world's history, formed parts of the 
ocean-bed. This may have consisted of limestones, sand- 
stones, or conglomerates, all saturated with brine, and re- 
posing on what had been beds of clay which contained 
carbonaceous ingredients ; while the process of baking 
this clay into shales filled it with cracks and seams, that 
have since become so many veins, filled with salt water ot 
petroleum expressed from the rocks subsequently formed ; 
the whole being upheaved to their present elevations. But 
who shall fill up the picture of those ages, of which this 
is scarcely ah outline ? 

The relationship between brine and petroleum is in- 
timate, yet they are not invariably found close together. 
Where oil is got in the second sand-rock, it has sometimes 
happened that the " show" of salt water was scarcely per- 
ceptible in or above the oil vein. By sinking a few feet 
deeper, however, the brine would flow up so profusely as 
to completely monopolize the tube and choke off the more 
desirable product. An instance of this happened in Frank- 
lin, involving the immediate ruin of a profitable well. An- 
other disaster of the same kind, close by, was only pre- 
vented by forcing down a plug, which stopped any further 



88 "Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 

uprising of the salt water. But as a rule, the two are 
found in such close contiguity that it is difficult to decide 
which has been sooner reached. At Tideoute, the alli- 
ance is so intimate that it has come to be considered a 
maxim : " No salt, no oil." As to the why or wherefore 
of this connection, our superficial philosophy must place 
its finger on the lip, and be modestly silent — for the pre- 
sent. 

Nor does the law of lawlessness end here. As men 
have been accustomed to measure the decreasing tempera- 
ture, in ascending from the sea-level, so have they mea- 
sured its increase downward, as found in mines, caverns, 
and the like. This increase is about one degree Fahren- 
heit for every sixty feet. At this rate, we should 
find the oil, water, gas, etc., brought up from a depth 
of six hundred feet, to be (say) ten degrees hotter than 
they are ordinarily found on the surface. My atten- 
tion was first called to the contrary by the superintendent 
of the Cherry Yalley Oil Company, who observed that 
from the Yankee well oil flowed very little above the 
freezing point. In some few instances, whether owing to 
careless observations or Nature's freakishness, his remarks 
were not borne out by other operators, but in many more 
they were fully confirmed. Mr. Ostrom, of Titusville, 
who has been some years at work in the valley, took the 
pains to test this matter by the thermometer. He ob- 
serves that different wells range through various degrees 
of temperature, according to the season. In winter this is 
not apt to be so low as in summer, when it is usually found 
as far down as forty or forty -five degrees ; at the opposite 
season it rises, in some wells, up to sixty degrees, causing 
a smoke to ascend from the surface of the tank The 



"Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 89 

tests in all cases were made in a pail-full of liquid, as dis- 
charged from the pipe, in which the heat and cold would 
both be somewhat modified. The whole subject requires 
much more extended observations than have yet been 
given to it, previous to making which it is not advisable 
to theorize respecting the causes at work in producing this 
effect. The circumstance shows, however, that men who 
have undertaken to calculate at what distance from the 
surface our globe is in a liquid state, have reckoned 
altogether too fast. 

Indeed, as if with a design to nullify theories or teach- 
ings of any kind as to the subterranean world, and abso- 
lutely to bewilder the investigator, rendering him hope- 
less of arriving at any general conclusions, we have the 
fact vouched for by multitudes of experienced operators, 
that wells yield much less freely in winter than in the summer 
season. This assertion is also called in question by some 
practical men, who seem to be as diverse in their relating 
matters of fact, as Nature is erratic in carrying on her pro- 
cesses. Thus, an intelligent superintendent at Petroleum 
Centre admits the fact of a difference to a slight extent, 
but denies that it should be attributed to the cause as- 
signed, namely, the agency of or sympathy with condi- 
tions existing in our upper atmosphere. His belief is, 
that the collection of parafhne in the tubes, which is much 
greater during cold than hot weather, and prevents the 
free passage of oil, water, and gas, creates all the difficulty. 
As proof of this theory, he alleges that the paraffine col- 
lects chiefly on that part' of the tube which is near the sur- 
face and thus exposed to the atmosphere. Elsewhere I 
was assured that they had "tested" this explanation by 
re-tubing in winter ; but invariably they found the same 



90 "Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 

decrease at that season. They pointed also to the Noble, 
the Fountain, and other flowing wells, which suspended 
action altogether in winter ; while the pumping-wells on 
whole farms had been found so unprofitable then that 
their managers either stopped altogether, or kept on to 
prevent the supply of petroleum from stopping for all 
time. Some managers report a difference of thirty per 
cent between the average production of wells in summer 
and winter. The superintendent of the Briggs Oil Com- 
pany declares he can predict changes in the weather for 
twenty -four hours in advance by observing the yield of 
his wells. On the approach of a cold rain or snow-storm, 
they begin to slacken up a full day beforehand. On the 
other hand, after commencing to yield more freely, it is 
safe to calculate upon pleasant weather. No better ba- 
rometer, he alleges, could be devised to forecast the out- 
break of storms than the decreased production of these 
long tubes, with petroleum instead of mercury. He thinks 
the are changes wrought by heat and cold, not the mere 
presence or absence of a certain quantity of moisture in the 
atmosphere. The Forest City well did not yield twenty- 
five barrels per day during the dead of winter in 1863-4, 
but recovered to an average of eighty-five barrels next 
summer. In December last it gave out altogether, and so 
continued till the eighth of March, when oil once more 
made its appearance, but in small quantities at first. 

Testimony to the same effect is so abundant, that it 
cannot be upset by the experience, much less by the opin- 
ion, of a few individuals, no matter how trustworthy as 
observers and narrators. But the difference between sum- 
mer and winter production is doubtless not so great in 
new as in old wells, or in flowing as in pumping ones. It 



"Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 91 

is in that stage of decay, approaching exhaustion, where 
the gas cooperates less vigorously with the pump, that 
the greatest diversity as to- season is found. But how or 
why such intimate sympathy should exist, when every 
means is used to exclude air from reaching the fountains, 
or gas from passing upward, except through the tubes, I 
do not pretend to be able to explain. 

Perhaps one or two other observations may assist the 
reader in arriving at a better understanding of the subject. 
The localities where this aerial sympathy is most acutely 
felt, contain large numbers of old and idle wells. In those 
which have been sunk on ground least punctured by the 
drill, I believe there is the least cause for complaint. 
Still, at the Economy wells, near Tideoute, where the 
land has been little bored on that side of the river, there 
is an acknowledged difference of fifteen or twenty per 
cent in favor of the summer season. The veins supplying 
those wells have certainly not been reached by others 
within the distance of half a mile. 

Mr. Fox, manager of the large interest owning Petro- 
leum Centre, observes that sometimes wells flow pure 
water, then oil alone, then water only. In that locality, 
he believes the oil and water are got together below the 
third sand-rock. 

Even with regard to the veins of petroleum, such a 
degree of uncertainty exists, in advance of actual trial, 
that they may be justly placed among the objects or phe- 
nomena subject to the law of lawlessness. Before sinking 
a well, it is utterly impossible to foresee whether it will or 
will not strike the oil-vein that feeds a neighboring well. 
Scores of instances might be brought forward to prove 
that a constant and intimate sympathy below ground does 



92 "Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 

exist between wells situated hundreds of yards apart. On 
the celebrated Tarr farm, several weeks were consumed 
last spring in pumping out the water which had collected 
from above, in consequence of withdrawing the tubes and 
leaving the orifices open. This water passed from one 
well to another, flooding those on the whole farm. The 
same costly process has to be gone through with the pres- 
ent season, many, at the time of my visit, having just be- 
gun to discharge the bilge- water, which had been collect- 
ing during the winter months. The great Philips spring 
was reached by a rival interest, which carried off two 
thousand barrels a day, and nearly dried up the original 
source. By withdrawing the tubes, each manager found 
he could render the other work utterly unproductive. 
Finally, after much litigation and delay, the difficulty 
was settled by each proprietor agreeing to give the other 
one third of his own yield, on condition of the other keep- 
ing his tubes in proper order. In one case, this connec- 
tion was so intimate, through subterranean channels, that 
the sounds made in drilling one, though not audible at its 
mouth, could be heard coming up the next well. On the 
Watson flats, a torpedo, let down nearly five hundred feet 
into an exhausted well, exploded and started the oil in 
another, though nearly half a mile distant, improving the 
character of the one subjected to the operation. On the 
other hand, Mr. Duncan, an experienced operator, assured 
me that one of his wells, which had been sunk close by 
the boundary-line of his lot, yielded so largely as to excite 
the cupidity of a neighbor. The latter decided to bore at 
a point within eleven feet of Mr. D.'s well. After sinking 
some distance, an offer to pay all expenses then incurred, 
on condition of abandoning the attempt, was promptly re- 



"Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 93 

jected. The work was carried down to a point below the 
Duncan well, but it yielded nothing. Not disheartened 
at this failure, the intruder made a second attempt at tap- 
ping the spring, going a few feet further off and in a some- 
what different direction ; the result was a yield of about 
one barrel per day for a time, which led him to abandon 
the enterprise. Many other instances of the same sort 
might be adduced, showing that the notion entertained by 
some of a grand reservoir of oil lying below ground at a 
given depth, is unsupported by facts. Even a well sunk 
in a direct line between two producing works does not in- 
variably strike the common vein ; for though passing 
within a few inches of the spot, a bed of clay or solid 
rock may forbid the exit of petroleum. 

" Surface indications," it has been shown, relate simply 
to the oil-springs found in the upper sand-rock, and these 
are commonly so insignificant that operators pay little at- 
tention to them. To reach the more abundant sources in 
the inferior rocks there is no certain guide, the only ap- 
proach to such being to get as nearly as possible on a 
direct line between other producing wells. The law of 
lawlessness also applies to the quantity of oil which a spring 
will yield after being reached, as truly as to its prospects 
in advance. Two wells may be within fifty feet of each 
other, as closely as they can be operated to advantage ; 
yet, while one pours forth* a hundred barrels per day, the 
other will refuse to give out more than ten. Even their 
modes of contributing these quotas will vary, one flowing 
by fits and starts, the other emitting a steady stream in 
response to the pump. The one may run two years, 
while the other becomes exhausted perhaps at the end of 
three months or thirty days. Commonly, the contrast is 



94 "Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 

not so sharp as this, wells on the same vein having a good 
degree of sympathy with each other ; yet the purchaser 
ought to make the possibility of an entire diversity in 
time as truly as in yield, enter into his calculations as to 
productiveness. 

In no other respect does the apparent capriciousness of 
Nature manifest itself more clearly than in the duration of 
an oil-spring. The fact that wells would give out at last was 
unknown, until it had been proved by abundant and most 
painful evidences. It is still called in question by some, 
who are either ignorant of the country or interested in 
creating misconceptions in the public mind. After so 
large a proportion of the works have gone through the 
several stages of flowing, pumping, deepening, re-reaming, 
etc., and then refused to contribute enough to pay ex- 
penses, it is unpardonable for persons at the East to be 
caught napping, either by investing their means in defunct 
concerns or expecting productive ones to last for ever. 
The excuses which a stranger is apt to hear or observe in 
print as to the number of idle derricks, are endless, and 
ought to arouse suspicion at once. " Oh ! she was dam- 
aged by the flood ;" as if a very profitable enterprise would 
be even temporarily abandoned for the lack of a few thou- 
sand dollars, which could be repaid within as many weeks. 
" She was never put down deep enough ;" as if the apologist 
had been in the basement story , c and examined how much 
further it was to the great petroleum reservoir. "She 
was abandoned in 1861, when oil had sunk in price to 
twenty-five cents a barrel, and has never been worked 
since ;" as if crude petroleum had not since advanced to 
half as many dollars per barrel at the well. " Her lease 
has expired, and she is now in the hands of the original 



"Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 95 

owners of the land ;" as if they or thousands of others 
would not have rushed to the rescue of a productive con- 
cern, which was going to ruin for want of a little means. 
Karely, indeed, are these excuses more than founded on 
fact, the truth in almost all cases being, that the wells 
have gone dry or were unproductive at first. The chances 
are believed to be quite as many in favor of sinking a 
new well as of deepening an old one, even though it may 
not have reached a greater depth than three hundred feet 
in the first instance. 

Of those which were bored as early as 1861, I think it 
safe to estimate that not more than one in a hundred have 
continued to yield steadily ever since, and are now afford- 
ing enough to pay operating expenses. The Economy 
wells at Tideoute are most remarkable exceptions in this 
respect. The fact that that spring should have been 
reached within one hundred and fifty feet of the surface, 
makes the " record " of those works the more interesting. 
Certainly the whole region of Petrolia has no parallel 
cases to these ; and at this moment I do not recall a soli- 
tary instance where a well, no matter to what depth sunk, 
has continued to flow or pump, without serious interrup- 
tion, for four years, as they have done. Let no lucky ad- 
venturer who may strike oil lay the flattering unction to 
his soul, that the spring which foams and bleeds so pro- 
fusely in his presence will continue to pour forth oil in 
paying quantities for four, three, or perhaps even two 
years. Before the end of eighteen months, it will not only 
call frequently for repairs and renewals, but probably 
have settled down to figures so modest as barely to cover 
working expenses. An oil-spring insurance company, 
did such exist, would not issue a policy, upon the first 



96 "Struck Oil" — Lawlessness. 

discharge of a well, that it would hold out longer than 
twelve months ; at any rate, it would be unsafe to accept 
the risk of its continuing to yield more than ten per cent 
of the average of its first month's production. Indeed, 
experts have assured me that they have set down nine 
months as the ordinary period of gestation ; so that what 
additional contributions may be made are such as the 
lucky possessor has no right to expect. 

But as this is a matter more properly belonging to the 
financial question than the idiosyncrasies of Petrolia, I 
leave its further discussion for another chapter. 



CHAPTER V. 

OBSTACLES IN THE WAY — THE MEANS USED TO OVER- 
COME THEM. 

In some form or other, obstacles to production present 
themselves from the day a well takes its place among ex- 
istences till its last breath is spent. As the human sys- 
tem is subject to diseases, which, with increasing years 
and diminishing strength, augment in power, ultimately 
ending in dissolution, so with an oil-well. To .some of 
these difficulties I have already alluded ; but to be under- 
stood clearly they must be systematized and examined 
more fully under a separate head. 

One of the first obstructions encountered is the collecting 
of paraffine, a substance whose qualities and uses will 
be found explained under the head of the refining of 
petroleum. It collects occasionally on the pump-rods, 
preventing their free passage up and down in the tube ; 
a good well on the Miller farm had been thus thrown idle 
for some days, when I visited it. More frequently, how- 
ever, especially during winter, this substance collects on 
the inside of the tubes with the same effect. In such an 
event, it is probable the adhesive element might be re- 
moved by heat, causing it to melt, run down to the bot- 
tom, and come up mingled with the oil. To accomplish 
this, it is only necessary to direct a current of steam down 
5 



98 Obstacles in the Way, etc. 

the tube for some time. As, however, the real cause of 
failure on the well's part can only be guessed at, previous 
to examination, it is customary to withdraw the tubes, 
unscrew them, clean them out, and afterward replace 
them. In a deep well, these operations will consume from 
two days to a week, according to the quantity of water 
collecting below. The task requires three or four men to 
perform it, and is altogether one of the least pleasant in 
that country. 

Quite as frequently this waxy intruder is found adher- 
ing to the sides of the well, alighting, precisely where it 
ought not to alight, on the oil-veins, and sealing them up 
as tightly as if the operation had been performed by hand, 
with the use of sealing-wax. Here again the trouble is 
that managers, being in the upper world, can have no cer- 
tain knowledge of the difficulty. As far as known there, 
the stoppage may be owing to the collecting of paraffine 
or to exhaustion in the supply. The tubes must once 
more be pulled up and examined. If nothing be found 
the matter with them, the supposition next in order is 
that paraffine has collected on the sides of the well. To 
remove this a tube is put down a long distance, and 
through it is directed a column of steam, which dissolves 
the adhesive substance and restores the power of the oil- 
veins. This consumes quite as much time as the other 
operation. 

If this proceeding fails to accomplish the end desired, 
recourse is sometimes had to the torpedo, a thin cast-iron 
tube, four or five feet in length, and filled with gunpow- 
der, which is fired by means of a galvanic wire. The ob- 
ject of this 'is to open or reopen fractures in the rocks, 
and liberate quantities of petroleum locked up in them. 



Obstacles in the Way, etc. 99 

There is a good deal of trouble, as well as some outlay, 
connected with this device ; and the experiments made 
with it have been too few as yet to justify any general 
conclusion respecting its merits. The fact that such an 
explosion should have started the petroleum in a well far 
distant, suggests the inquiry whether expenditures of the 
kind should not be borne equally by all companies and 
individuals in a neighborhood, whose wells require " re- 
juvenation " ? One work is as likely to gain benefit as 
another from the operation. 

When steam-pipe and torpedo alike fail to restore a well 
to its pristine vigor, or at least to a paying condition,- and 
the manager has the quality of perseverance, it is cus- 
tomary to resort to other processes. The next step is 
commonly to sink to a greater depth, particularly if the 
well were put down, in the first place, less than five hun- 
dred feet. Along the Alleghany and on various parts of 
Oil and French Creeks, this operation is now in progress 
or contemplation at some hundreds of works. In the 
great majority of cases, however, it is undertaken by new 
interests, into whose hands the property has fallen by 
lease or purchase. By looking over the chapter on the 
statistics of production, the reader will find many in- 
stances where such endeavors have proved successful to a 
moderate degree — very seldom, however, in tapping a big 
spring lower down, after a tolerably good one had been 
exhausted in a higher stratum. When it is considered 
that in that chapter little mention has been made of un- 
productive wells, except to' group them in mass, I am in- 
clined to think that scarcely one well in seven — perhaps 
not even one in ten — ever succeeds in getting petroleum 
sufficient to pay the additional outlay incurred in deepen- 



100 Obstacles in the Way, etc. 

ing it. Certainly not one in fifty becomes a second-class 
concern, yielding from twenty-five to one hundred barrels 
per day, for the space of twelve months. 

The other proceeding is to ream out the well, increas- 
ing its diameter from four to five or six inches. This has 
not been resorted to in nearly as many instances as deep- 
ening ; but I think the experiments already made and 
the impressions of the workmen thus engaged, will bear 
me out in saying that it is not likely to be more success- 
ful than the other. The theory in re-reaming is that, be- 
ing much more easily performed than boring anew, it not 
only removes accretions from the side of the well, but 
may lay open new springs or veins, separated from the. 
boring by very slender partitions. Full and accurate sta- 
tistical information, drawn from whole sections of the oil 
regions, is highly desirable. The trouble now is, that in 
this, as in nearly all other matters relating to Petrolia, the 
successes are blazed abroad by telegraph, newspaper, and 
private epistle ; while the failures are glozed over, or at 
best only touched upon, as if they were matters of which 
the public must be kept in profound ignorance. 

Among the many hindrances experienced is the ineffi- 
ciency of engines, either by their getting out of order or 
having to stop from a deficiency of coal. Either of these 
drawbacks puts a complete stop to the production of pe- 
troleum, without making any diminution on the score of 
expenses. The engines first imported were almost lite- 
rally " one-horse " machines. Their boilers were insuni- 
cient to generate the quantity of steam since found requi- 
site to drive the pumps. The cylindrical part being usu- 
ally from twenty-four to twenty-eight inches in diameter, 
and from four and a half to five feet in length, the power 



Obstacles in the Way, etc-. 101 

produced ranged between five and eight horses. Not that 
in every case a very large mechanical force is required 
for that purpose, the law of lawlessness applying to this 
as to all other departments of Petrolia. In some wells a 
pressure of ten pounds to the inch has been found suffi- 
cient for all purposes, in others six or seven times that 
pressure is needed. As the wants of a well cannot be 
foreseen, skilful operators now judge it advisable to en- 
large the capacity and augment the strength of boiler 
and engine, which are, accordingly, now made sufficient 
to give twelve, fifteen, or twenty horse-power. On the 
properties of several companies one engine is geared to 
two pumps, or to one pump and a drilling apparatus. 
Near Titusville, a forty-horse engine has been introduced 
and set to pumping three wells, to which a fourth will 
shortly be added. The results appear to be perfectly sat- 
isfactory, as is manifest from the number of small engines 
which are for sale in all parts of the country. Indeed, 
considering the contiguity of numbers of wells on many 
farms with the high prices of labor and fuel, the marvel 
is that engines with long lines of shafting have not been 
already introduced to furnish power at rates more reason- 
able than it can be obtained for at present. 

The inability of motive power to do its work, or its 
temporary failure through accidents, is a serious loss, 
since repairs are equally costly and dilatory. To the best 
of my knowledge, there is not a shop in the oil region 
where a boiler and steam-engine can be renovated, if 
badly broken down. The demands upon the shops at 
Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Paterson, and New- 
burgh, have hitherto been such that new engines could be 
obtained only after months of delay, as well as by paying 



102 Obstacles in the Way, etc. 

double the prices which they would formerly have com- 
manded. Why, among the thousands of manufacturers 
and mechanics who have visited Venango county, the es- 
tablishment of a boiler-shop and engine-shop should have 
been overlooked, I am unable to conjecture, unless it has 
been owing to the extravagant prices charged for land 
and services of all kinds, the cupidity of speculators thus 
checking the growth of industry, the settlement of the 
country, and in the end cutting its own throat. 

Getting out of fuel is one of the many temporary annoy- 
ances experienced by oil companies. At first sight, this 
would hardly appear possible, in view of the abundance 
of fire- wood still left in the country, after the more valu- 
able timber has been cleared off and sawn into lumber. 
Petrolia has for boundaries on two sides the coal-fields of 
Pennsylvania, the beds cropping out on the hill-tops, both 
toward the east and the south. In both directions the seams 
are of sufficient thickness to render mining profitable in 
ordinary times. But the insane spirit of speculation has 
caused coal-lands to advance in price from one hundred dol- 
lars to two thousand dollars per acre, and thus practically 
shut up one of the chief sources of wealth in that region. 
The people have to depend upon the irregular and uncer- 
tain supplies received from Pittsburgh by steamer, paying 
quadruple prices therefor. With railroads and steam- 
boats utterly insufficient to transact the business thrown 
upon them, and no common roads deserving of the name, 
it came to pass that bituminous coal commanded from 
sixty to eighty cents per bushel in Oil City, during the 
past winter ; while along Oil Creek it advanced to one 
dollar and even one dollar and twenty-five cents per 
bushel. Here again is seen the consequence of that short- 



Obstacles in the Way, etc. 103 

sighted selfishness, which, refusing to take thought for 
others as well as for the morrow, leaves the highways (a 
sad misnomer !) to take care of themselves. Horse rail- 
roads along the principal bottoms could not fail to be ex- 
ceedingly remunerative. 

Sometimes I have felt indignant at beholding a 
whole posse of men loitering idly about a well, because 
they were out of coal, which might not arrive within a 
full week. There lay along the river-margin, within a 
quarter of a mile, drift-wood sufficient to supply fuel for 
a fortnight ; there was abundance on the slopes immedi- 
ately above, to be had for a trifle, in addition to the labor 
of chopping and rolling it down. The officer in charge 
was too consequential to step so far out of his beat ; the 
engineers and others were too indolent to work when 
they could do without it. Between the two, wells pro- 
duced after a fashion, and shareholders got dividends — 
in faith, hope, and charity ! 

In the chapter on statistics will be found occasional re- 
ferences to the blower, a simple apparatus, first introduced 
into the Sherman well, and since then tried in several others 
with various success. The Sherman had flowed very large- 
ly for a time, but given out ; resort was then had to the 
pump, which also at length proved insufficient. Finally, 
the manager introduced the instrument mentioned with 
quite satisfactory results, the yield coming up to between 
forty and sixty barrels a day. The blower consists sim- 
ply of an iron tube, one inch in diameter, which is let 
down into the well outside of the fixed tube, the lower end 
of the blower being bent round, so as to pass upward into 
the orifice of the other. A column of air is then forced 
down the smalr*pipe, from which it passes into the larger, 



104 Obstacles in the Way, etc. 

and assists the natural action of the gas in forcing up the 
petroleum. By virtue of this simple contrivance to co- 
operate with Nature, that well has gone forward for some 
months without any material diminution that I could 
learn. In other cases, however, the result was far from 
being equally satisfactory. The manager of the Noble 
and Delamater well tried the blower, under which the 
total yield amounted to twenty-five barrels, when the oil 
ceased to flow. In others, again, after using the blower 
without success, it has been taken out, and replaced by the 
pump, with a decided improvement in the yield. It de- 
serves mention that these instruments are not all similar 
in design ; and that some are regarded worthless under all 
circumstances. Before purchasing, it would be well to 
obtain a guarantee of satisfactory results, provided it can 
be proved that oil exists in the well to be subjected to 
the experiment. On this matter, as of every other, the 
experience of both practical and disinterested men is 
highly desirable. 

The cost of transporting petroleum, in bulk or barrels, to 
the nearest point of shipment, is one of those obstacles 
now felt in preventing the further extension of that great 
enterprise. As a specimen of the rates prevailing since 
the opening of navigation, I may state that boatmen are 
in the habit of charging one dollar per barrel for convey- 
ing it from Petroleum Centre four miles up to Shaffer's 
station, or eight miles down to Oil City. Before the 
opening of the railroad from Franklin to Oil City, it was 
customary to charge two dollars per barrel for transport- 
ing it seven miles, during the winter season. A railroad 
between Shaffer's and Oil City could make money by car- 
rying a barrel the whole distance for tw%nty-nve cents. 



Obstacles in the Way, etc. 105 

But in spite of this obvious truth, staring stockholders 
and managers in the face — in spite of troublesome delays 
as well as extravagant changes, the Petrolians are content 
to trudge through mud and grease, the noblest of God's 
subordinate creatures being murdered every year by thou- 
sands. I'know of no better means for bringing the fero- 
cious drivers to something like feeling than to apply to 
them the blows they are wont to administer to the broken- 
down quadrupeds, often in the agonies of death. In one 
instance at least, an earnest threat from a spectator to give 
blow for blow had the desired effect, and the poor crea- 
ture was permitted to heave his expiring groans free from 
the devilish treatment which he was then perhaps too 
unconscious to feel. 

The newly imposed tax of one dollar per barrel laid by 
the general government on crude oil, is a subject of much 
complaint, not only on account of its pecuniary weight, but 
for the other annoyances in connection with it. One of these 
will doubtless be the frequent exercise of that rule known 
as "reduction descending," in regard to the reported yield 
of many wells ! But this topic belongs rather to the 
financial than the mechanical head, and I pass it by for 
the present with merely alluding to it. 

The losses and troubles arising from owners or agents 
withdrawing the tubes and leaving idle wells open, have 
been noticed in a previous chapter. Elsewhere the neces- 
sity of stringent legislation is urged upon the state 
authorities. 

ISTo inconsiderable loss, was occasioned last winter from 
the inability of the great railroad companies to transport 
the petroleum (whether crude or refined) eastward. The 
consequence of this was an immense accumulation of it at 



106 Obstacles in the Way, etc. 

various points, where it could neither be shipped nor 
made a means of raising money, however much the man- 
agers might be in want of it. Dividends, of course, were 
out of the question. The industrial changes consequent 
on a restoration of peace will probably prevent a repeti- 
tion of this misfortune for some years. 

A decided drawback on the business as a whole, is the 
great fluctuation in prices happening every little while. In 
March last, the price of crude illuminating oil was from 
ten to twelve dollars per barrel at the wells ; at one time 
in April it had sunk to three dollars, a fall of seventy per 
cent ! Even this lapsus was nothing like so ruinous as 
that which was experienced in 1861, when the great flow- 
ing wells down Oil Creek were first struck. For many 
weeks petroleum was sold for twenty-five and even ten 
cents per barrel — in fact, it was not thought to be worth 
barrelling at all. There was no resource but to wait and 
extend the introduction of this article, which was duly ac- 
complished in time, though not till tens of thousands of 
barrels of it had gone to waste. The wild excitement of 
last winter and spring, attended with such a rush of peo- 
ple to the oil regions, had its influence in lowering prices 
last April. If most of the wells were really as successful 
as they are represented to be, there can be no doubt that 
the price of oil would sink to a still lower figure than 
three dollars per barrel. 

The high wages paid, whether directly for labor or indi- 
rectly for its products, have been in part attributed to the 
war ; with its close there cannot fail to be a material de- 
cline in both. It is questionable, however, whether com- 
panies have been as much losers from the high standard 
ruling as from the unsteadiness of a large body of the 



Obstacles in the Way, etc. 107 

workmen, at a time when employment is abundant and 
well remunerated. This will also come to a close. 

Last, but not least, among the troubles to be expected, 
is "the chapter of accidents ," arising from flood, fire, etc. 
The mere mention of this suggests what a story of losses 
and crosses has been told since the end of last March, 
when, in consequence of the melting of a whole winter's 
accumulations of snow, the runs, creeks, and rivers over- 
flowed their banks and inundated the lowlands, piers, 
wharves, etc., sweeping off property estimated by some as 
being worth five millions of dollars I The damage done 
directly to wells, together with the consequent falling off 
in their production, I have no doubt will have amounted 
to as large a sum as the direct destruction of oil and other 
property. One-fifth of the immense aggregate, applied to 
the construction of roads and levees, drains and fences, 
with reasonable sagacity in forecasting the advent of such 
a visitation, might have warded off the effects of that 
frightful calamity; as it is, companies and individuals 
must pay the penalty of establishing conditions in which 
the lowest form of selfishness is the only recognized prin- 
ciple of action. To this hour Petrolia has refused to 
profit by that calamitous dispensation. It has opened no 
water-courses ; thrown up no embankments to be used for 
highways as well as levees ; has raised neither well nor 
tank one foot above its former level ; but, with the placid 
unconcern of a believer in fate, resigned itself to the next 
flood that may desolate its valleys and inundate its streets. 
The influx of capital has been so unprecedented, that 
some of its people may have imagined they can snap their 
fingers at the natural laws ; but these will, in the end, as- 
suredly vindicate themselves. 



108 Obstacles in the Way, etc. 

In still another mode do losses by flood occur. During 
the summer months, Oil Creek shrinks to a mere brook, 
insufficient to float even a skiff in many places. At this 
season it has been customary to create artificial floods or 
freshets by the construction of dams near the head-waters. 
On a given day in the week, these are opened and the pent- 
up waters let flow. The scene is apt to be highly excit- 
ing and withal not free from danger, as the newly-eman- 
cipated floods rush madly down the valley, bearing scores 
of huge flat-bottomed boats, all heavily laden with the pro- 
ducts of the wells. Sometimes boats, laden in bulk, collide 
with those laden with barrels, and both again crash against 
others which may be moored to the margin of the creek, 
breaking them into fragments and sending their cargoes 
adrift. It is customary to give notice in advance of these 
visitations ; but with all the precautions adopted, they are 
apt to be attended with more or less damage. 

In speaking of the effects of fire, it is gratifying to find 
that the conflagrations which broke out with consequences 
so^tremendous in the early history of this enterprise, have 
not happened in vain. Some of these calamities were so 
appalling that they might almost be termed national evils. 
In one of them, near Kouseville, twenty-seven persons lost 
their lives ; and seldom, indeed, has a well taken fire with- 
out more or less destruction of human life, as well as im- 
mense amounts of property. It requires very little stretch 
of the imagination to comprehend the effects of a single 
spark falling in the wrong place when a stiff breeze is 
blowing. With hundreds of derricks, tanks, engine- 
houses, etc., on a single bottom — all of wood, and so satu- 
rated with oil that they are as inflammable as tinder — nay, 
with streams and pools of petroleum covering large por- 



Obstacles in the Way, etc. 109 

tions of the surface, it requires but a spark to cause the 
whole magazine to explode. It has even sometimes hap- 
pened that upon striking oil suddenly, this liquid would 
spirt upward, fall on the engine-house, and take tire from 
the furnace, enveloping all the neighboring locality in 
flames. Accidents of this kind have taken place so often 
from laborers or strangers smoking near the wells, that 
the practice is prohibited, and the stranger finds numerous 
cautions to that effect wherever he goes. 

"When the burning well," writes a correspondent, 
" happened to be near the creek, which was frequently 
the case, a new danger threatened. The boats, loaded 
with oil, took fire, and burning their lines, went adrift 
down the stream. As they passed the tank-boats, filled with 
oil in bulk, the flames spread to them with the rapidity of 
lightning ; a single flash and the whole boat was in flames. 
The burning boats continued in their course of devasta- 
tion, setting fire to every thing they touched on their 
route. The bursting of tanks covered the stream with oil, 
which took fire and added to the terrible grandeur of the 
scene. A great fire of this kind occurred more than a 
year ago, when blazing boats came down the creek, and, 
plunging among a large fleet of loaded boats at Oil City, set 
them on fire ; and the whole blazing mass swept down the 
Alleghany, burning the Franklin bridge as they passed, 
and spreading terror for miles along the river. . . . 
To extinguish a burning well, the only means discovered 
is to play on it with steam from the boiler of -a neighbor- 
ing engine, or to heap the mouth of the hole with earth. 
To accomplish the latter is a work of great difficulty and 
danger, for the heat thrown out by burning petroleum is 
intense. For this reason, a flowing well that takes fire 



110 Obstacles in the Way, etc. 

frequently burns for many days before the fire can be ex- 
tinguished." 

The wrecks left by such a visitation are scarcely notice- 
able, consisting of a few long hoops that have fallen from 
the tanks. Every thing else is sure to be licked up. 
Last winter, several works, about a mile above Petroleum 
Centre, took fire and disappeared ; and not a few of the 
derricks arising in different parts of the oil regions, sup- 
posed by the visitor to indicate the sinking of new wells, 
are simply replacing old works which have perished by 
flood or flame. 

In perusing the various accounts of conflagrations and 
their causes, it may occur to some, that one source of dan- 
ger is the escaping gas becoming a conductor of electrici- 
ty during thunder-storms, as the exhalations arising from 
trees and barns filled with grain are known to be. Nu- 
merous inquiries, however, have led me to believe that 
the gas from wells does not act as a conductor, as no fire 
is known to have thus originated. Otherwise it would 
hardly seem possible to escape a sweeping calamity nearly 
every week during the summer season. 

But whether or not delays or disasters be experienced 
from flood or flame, the lack of fuel, defects in engines, 
disorganization in labor, obstructions in the wells or the 
tubes, the chilling blasts of winter, or the descent of sur- 
face-water, it is an established fact, that the springs them- 
selves decay and finally cease to yield petroleum in pay- 
ing quantities. They may be nursed, and humored, and 
coaxed, and petted, until it would seem that every imagin- 
able whim was gratified. But no mechanical or chemical 
application can easily extract sunbeams from cucumbers, 
or oil from an empty well. For that the real trouble with 



Obstacles in the Way, etc. Ill 

most of the abandoned concerns is exhaustion, does not 
admit of a doubt, all the asseverations of owners, mana- 
gers, agents, mercenary writers, etc., to the contrary notwith- 
standing. The period after which tired Nature will say 
" Enough," and refuse to contribute another quart, may 
last three months or three years ; but it will assuredly 
come to an end. It may be prolonged for a time by 
various schemes and appliances ; but animal life does not 
more certainly, in the long run, yield obedience to the 
natural law of decline, decay, and dissolution, than must 
the oil-spring. For nearly four years, the Economy we]ls 
have resisted the fate which befell all others of the same 
age ; but even they are producing much less than they did 
in 1861, and one has become quite feeble. The others, in 
time, will certainly follow, especially if numbers of new 
works are to be put into operation close by. Let all who 
mean to invest their money in oil stocks " stick a pin 
there." 



CHAPTER VI. 

STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION. 

Having described the physical features of Petrolia, its 
present appearance, "the manners and customs" of its in- 
habitants, the mode of drilling wells, and the obstacles to 
be overcome afterward, the next point in order, and that for 
which this little volume will be most eagerly perused by 
many, is to give statistics of the present and past produc- 
tions of the wells, as ascertained by careful inquiry upon 
personal examination. The collecting of these consumed 
fully three weeks. Sometimes a mile or two constituted 
the length of my cord for a whole day. I made it a point 
to visit every well in operation, and to compare the yield 
reported by workmen with that given by officers and 
neighbors, examining the discharge, and suggesting doubts 
or inquiries, as the case might be. In order to get the 
whole truth, it was sometimes necessary to inform the men 
that I was not a government agent ; at other times, to 
probe statements very closely and take additional testi- 
mony. By the use of methods best known to a newspa- 
per expert, I think I arrived as near the truth as it was 
possible for a stranger to do in any thing like a reasonable 
time. As to fidelity in reporting, I am not conscious of 
having misrepresented a fact, a figure, an impression, or 



Statistics of Production. 113 

even having colored it in the slightest degree, with a view 
to benefiting or running down any person or interest. 
Opportunities and even tempting offers to assist in find- 
ing purchasers for wells were not wanting, whatever may 
have been the motive in rejecting them. It was with a 
deep conviction on my mind that the subject had never 
been investigated as it ought to be ; that the hard financial 
and industrial facts had not been collected by laborious, 
judicious, conscientious men, with a view to publication, 
that I felt it my duty to take hold of it, in spite of physical 
obstacles and the predictions of many who pronounced 
the undertaking an impossibility. 

In order to present the greatest amount of matter in the 
least space, and in something like a systematic form, I 
have divided the country into sections or farms, lying 
contiguous to each other, and having points of resem- 
blance. The first of these is the well-known 

WATSON FLATS. 

These consist of several hundred acres of low and nearly 
level land, lying between or on each side of the two prin- 
cipal branches of Oil Creek. It .has some appearance of 
having been at one time the bottom of a lake, before the 
creek, lower down, reached its present depth. At some 
points on it, as well as further down the creek, pits were 
found, from five to eight feet in diameter, and from fifteen 
to twenty feet deep, their sides protected by " wooden 
walls," which had been carefully joined. The fact that trees, 
several feet in diameter, have been found growing imme- 
diately above those pits, proves that they must have been 
sunk before the white race made their appearance ; and 
the inference is that the western mound-builders operated 



114: Statistics of Production. 

in Petrolia perhaps thousands of years since. It is said 
that the Cornplanter Indians have still traditions to that 
effect. 

The wells on that flat have some characteristics in com- 
mon. None of them yield oil by flowing. The produc- 
tion of the most profitable does not exceed sixty barrels 
per day. On the other hand, very few wells have been 
sunk in that locality that did not pay expenses. It is be- 
lieved there has not been one that did not contribute more 
or less. This " territory" may, therefore, be set down as 
perhaps the safest in all Petrolia, but the one offering few- 
est rewards in the shape of rare and dazzling prizes. Deep 
well, sunk to more than twelve hundred feet and still in 
progress, is on this tract. 

The present yield of the active wells there may be set 
down as between the figures underneath, both having been 
given by persons on the ground, and one (the lower) by 
those who professed to know, and I believe did know, of 
what they affirmed. 

U. S. Grant Well. — Sunk four hundred and sixty feet. 
Engine driven by gas from the well. Discharges a con- 
stant stream of oil and water, but increasing^and decreas- 
ing every few seconds. Yields from thirty-five to forty 
five barrels every twenty-four hours ; probable average, 
not far from forty. 

Ingersoll Well. — Owned by New- York and Oil Creek. 
Petroleum Company. Believed to be the best on the flat- 
Pumps a steady stream of between fifty and sixty barrels 
daily. Had been yielding only three weeks at time of 
visit. They pumped all winter, and got nothing but water 
for months. Has yielded as much as seventy barrels a 
day. Depth, four hundred and fifty-eight feet. 



Statistics of Production. 115 

Old Abe Well. — Was opened in April last, a week be- 
fore visit. Yields thirty barrels every twenty -four hours. 
Depth, two hundred and sixty feet. 

Kellogg Well. — Yields from ten to fifteen barrels per day. 
Depth, four hundred and sixty-two feet. Was opened last 
February. Discharges by fits and starts only. 

Continental Well. — Has broken down two or three times 
lately. Was idle, when visited, being re-tubed. Famous 
in the past. 

Katz Well. — Was once the best on this flat ; now gives 
little except water. Tools fast in the bottom, which is as- 
signed as the probable cause of failure. Lay idle from 
August till lately. 

Nellie Binning er Well. — Has been in operation about 
three months. Very irregular in yield, which ranges from 
one to fifteen barrels per day. 

New Well. — Owned by Pennsylvania Oil Creek Com- 
pany. Prospects, when finished, considered good. 

Watson and GMlds's Well. — Is old, but recently renovat- 
ed. Used to flow sixty barrels per day. Has been idle 
for nearly three years. Cannot yet say what she is likely 
to do. 

Baker* Well. — Yields about twenty-two barrels per day. 
At one time, gave as much as forty, and four years ago 
flowed one hundred and sixty barrels daily. Uses her 
own gas for fuel. 

Ostrom Well. — Four years old. Yields about thirty bar- 
rels per day. Depth, four hundred and twenty feet. 

Elliott's Well. — Was yielding forty barrels daily till the 
spring freshet, which damaged the works and suspended 
operations till visit. 

Dunn Well. — Average yield given at forty barrels per 



116 Statistics of Production. 

day for four weeks. Little discharge of oil when visited, 
it being late in the day. Has regular pulsations or tides, 
discharging oil freely in the forenoon and slacking up 
afterward. 

Mem. — On the Kingsland flat, immediately below Wat- 
son flat, are perhaps a dozen derricks, new and old ; one 
of these standing over the famous well sunk by Colonel 
Drake in 1859. No active operations are visible on any 
portion of that property. 

Dean and FirtHs Well. — Belongs to the Bunker Hill Oil 
Company. Average yield, twelve barrels per day. Depth, 
five hundred and twenty feet. Doing nothing the day of 
visit. Opened last October. 

Funk Well. — Belongs to owner of that name. Yields 
ten to twelve barrels per day. Opened last autumn. 

May Queen Well. — Belongs to same proprietor, and gives 
from seven to ten barrels daily. Was also put down last 
fall, the work done in twenty-five days, to about the usual 
depth. Believed to be " the quickest time on record." 

Mem. — A lot of forty by two hundred feet, close by, 
has changed hands for the sum of three thousand dollars ; 
purchaser to take his chance. No wells on property, and 
no royalty on oil, if any reached. Is about one nlile from 
Titusville, and near margin of the " oil-diggings." Learn 
also that thirty-seven acres, at a short distance, were lately 
sold for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in fee 
simple, the agent of an Eastern company having paid down 
ten thousand dollars as earnest. Would be glad he had the 
"eighteen pence within his purse" again; but seller re- 
fuses to give it up. A well in that neighborhood, repre- 
sented as giving fifteen barrels per day, sold last winter 
for forty-five thousand dollars. It is not paying expenses 



Statistics of Production. 117 

to-day, and at the time of sale did not give thirty per cent 
of the quantity stated ! 

Hinckley Well — Was never properly tested, (a suspicious 
phrase.) Pumped thirteen barrels oil one day some time 
since. Eepairing the machinery, and mean to deepen the 
well. Depth, four hundred and eighty feet. Used a blow- 
er, which has been taken out as unserviceable. Belongs 
to the Titus estate. 

Burtiss Well. — Yielded seven to eight barrels per day 
last year. Idle in winter, but starting again. Said to be 
■? good show," and there is certainly water. Depth, four 
hundred and eighty-five feet. 

Cap Well, or No. Seven Parker Petroleum Company, has 
not been running steadily for some time. They are pump- 
ing and expect to get oil. Depth, six hundred and four- 
teen feet. 

Echhart Well. — Just starting. A little oil on the brine, 
though barely one barrel per day. Depth, six hundred 
and thirteen feet. 

Palmer Well. — Has been lying still for some time. Gave 
from twelve to eighteen barrels per day formerly. Making 
preparations to resume work. Depth, two hundred and 
forty feet. The Keystone, close by, same tale as Palmer. 

Utica Bock- Oil Company's Well, JVo. Thirty-nine. — Open- 
ed a few days before visit. In two days gave twenty-eight 
barrels, and yield increasing. Depth, four hundred and 
fifty-seven feet. 

Well JVo. Three. — Old concern reopening. In three 
weeks gave two or three barrels. Depth, six hundred and 
fifty feet. They say the tubing is out of order. These 
wells are the highest up on the east branch of Oil Creek 



118 Statistics of Production. 

of works in actual operation. Distance from Titus ville, 
one and a half miles. 

Tripler Well. — About four years old. Gives twelve bar- 
rels per day. Depth, about five hundred feet. 

Old Hinhle Well. — Flowed one hundred barrels per day 
at first. Subsequently abandoned. Was pumped some 
weeks, at one time, giving one hundred and twenty-nine 
barrels in three days. Owners did not consider this pro- 
fitable, with petroleum at twenty-five cents per barrel, and 
allowed well to rest. Preparing to pump it once more. 

Glendale Oil Company's Well. — Averages about three 
and a half barrels per day. Goes by fits and starts only. 
Not properly tested since deepening. 

Binninger and Sanger Wells. — One is not pumped. Other 
is six hundred feet, and newly tested. Gives between 
twenty and thirty barrels per day, on average. An out- 
side account says between twelve and fifteen. 

Shermouth Well. — Old and abandoned. At one time 
good for forty to fifty barrels per day. Sold to new com- 
pany, late owners guaranteeing an average yield of thirty 
barrels. 

JVo. Two Parker Well. — Pumps about four barrels in ten 
hours. Two years old. Depth, five hundred feet. 

Abbott Wells. — Two in number. Pumping small quan- 
tities of oil, but the exact quantity could not be ascer- 
tained. 

Above is a list of all the wells in actual operation, or 
having been such within a few days of my visit. The 
number of idle or abandoned works I estimate at fifty, 
within two miles of Titusville ; but in a goodly number 
of these preparations are in progress for resuming opera- 
tions. The effects of the freshet are still painfully visi- 



Statistics of Production. 119 

ble. The number of new derricks within the same dis- 
tance is fully one hundred — perhaps one hundred and 
twenty-five ; but at a considerable number of these there 
are no signs of activity. 

After sinking to the depth of four hundred and fifty 
feet on the Watson flats, without finding oil, I have very 
little faith in further deepening. Most of the experiments 
made in that direction have been unsuccessful, and none 
have amounted to much. 

Wells on the west side of the principal fork, on the 
whole, pay better than those on the opposite side. The 
ones given at the head of this list are all on the west side. 
I allude to this only to dispel an error prevalent in some 
quarters, that the east side of all streams is more produc- 
tive than the west— a vagary refuted by understanding 
the physical formation of the country. Wells along the 
base of the heights north-east of Titusville pay mode- 
rately, their average being from eight to ten barrels per 
day. On the opposite slope they have not yet advanced 
sufficiently near completion to afford information as to the 
extent of the oil-field in that direction. Slopes, as such, 
have no necessary connection with oil-bearing rocks. 

For nearly four miles below the Watson flats little prog- 
ress has recently been made, the few wells sunk here and 
there appearing to have been unprofitable. Still, other 
persons are about to make fresh experiments, and a num- 
ber of new wells are going down. The next point of in- 
terest is 

miller's farm, 

six miles below Titusville, with a railroad station and a 
bridge across the creek. Below is a list of the productive 
wells : 



120 Statistics of Production, 

New-England Well. — Belongs to company of same 
name. Opened about five months ago. Yields from 
twenty-five to thirty barrels per day. Average well up 
to thirty. Was the only one then in operation at time 
of visit, the others undergoing repairs. Is on east side of 
the creek. 

Hemlock Well. — Is on west side. Pumped about eight 
barrels per day through winter ; but it and the Kerosene 
were undergoing repairs. Hemlock had been going 
about one year. Kerosene yielded about twelve barrels 
per day. 

There are a few other old wells on this farm, chiefly on 
the east side ; but all appear to have given out. About 
ten new derricks erected, at half of which work is actu- 
ally going on. A small refinery at the station. 

At Shaffer's, the railroad terminus, out of a dozen old 
works close by there was not one yielding oil at the time 
of visit. Great expectations from some new ones on op- 
posite side of the creek. Number of old and idle wells 
from Watson flats to this place, probably fifty, with near- 
ly as many new ones in progress. Much activity at Shaf- 
fer's in unloading oil from the boats, and shipping mer- 
chandise from the railroad. An ''excellent show" of 
portable engines — say a quarter of an acre at least. 

For the next mile and a half a masterly inactivity pre- 
vails along the widening bottom. On that space, I think, 
are one hundred idle derricks. Disinterested men pro- 
nounce the "territory dry ;" and the solitude of the scene 
cannot be explained by freshet or other temporary break- 
down. At length we find, on 



Statistics of Production. 121 

THE FOSTER FARM, 

Vanita Well, JVo. Two.— Belongs to the Indian Oil 
Company of Philadelphia. Flowed about three hundred 
barrels per day, after opening, last fall ; but has since 
fallen off to about four barrels. 

Porter Well. — Belongs to same interest. Flowed from 
May till September, 1864, at the rate of one hundred and 
fifty barrels per day. In November the pump was ap- 
plied, and well now yields about ten barrels, supplying 
gas to run the engine. 

Zinc Well. — Belongs to Irwin Oil Company of Phila- 
delphia. Yields no oil worth mentioning. Workmen ex- 
pect it to produce after exhausting the salt water. Began 
operations, after lying idle, a short time since. 

THE McELHEKNY FARMS. 

Some of the most famous wells in the oil region were 
struck, in 1861, about two miles below Shaffer's, on or 
near the McBlhenny farms. The flats there have expand- 
ed to about two hundred and fifty yards in width, and 
are forested with old and new derricks. The principal 
works are (or were) the following : 

JSTo~ble and Delamater Well. — Is on the east side. 
Opened in 1862. Flowed from eighteen hundred to two 
thousand barrels per day for six months, when it began to 
fall off. In spite of low prices, partly caused by its suc- 
cess, made its owners (two poor men) millionaires. About 
the middle of last winter ceased to flow, when a blower 
was put in. The trial resulted in a total yield of about 
twenty -five barrels. Had been idle for some time before 
visit. ISTo symptoms of renewed activity. 



122 Statistics of Production. 

McKinney Well. — Same side of the creek. Yielded 
about fifty barrels a day by pumping, a short time ago, 
but broke down for a time. Gives at present about thirty 
barrels. 

Craft Well. — On Bull Kun, entering creek on east 
side. Opened about the first of April, but a " fool " of 
the right kind, as it flows two hundred barrels per day, 
according to owners' estimate ; and I think the yield well 
up to that figure. No falling off at time of visit. A 
steady stream from the tube, with little fuss and fury. 

Railroad or Boughton Well. — On same stream. At 
first pumped seventy-five barrels per day. Last Novem- 
ber, valves got out of order, and well has not since been 
in operation. "Workmen very costive in regard to infor- 
mation. One was quite rude. A decidedly unfavora- 
ble impression about the concern. 

Caldwell Well. — Just testing. Fair prospects of suc- 
cess. Is situated above and close by the Noble well. 

Caldwell Well, JVo. Four. — Lately tested. Tools fast 
in bottom. Prospect indifferent. Another well on lot 
No. Five. Opened two weeks and pumping water. 

Irwin Well. — On west side. Pumping from twenty to 
twenty-five barrels per day. 

Crocker Well. — Noted old concern in its day ; but has 
yielded little except water the past winter. A dispute 
with neighboring proprietor, who had tapped the same 
vein. Late Crocker owners say they offered fair terms, 
which other party rejected. They then withdrew their 
tubes, when, presto ! the rival was obliged to purchase 
Crocker or go without any thing. A controversy not 
uncommon in Petrolia. 

Lon Well. — Near old Sherman. Just testing at time 



Statistics of Production. 123 

of visit, and good for ten to fifteen barrels, it was said, per 
day. 

Sherman Well. — One of the historical landmarks of 
the oil regions. "Was one of those which inaugurated 
the revolution of 1861, causing scores of wells to be 
abandoned, through reduction in price. First yield, fif- 
teen hundred barrels per day, by flowing ; then fell off to 
six hundred ; dropped down to one hundred ; and finally 
stopped altogether last fall. Tried the pump for a time ; 
but again became unproductive. Next, the proprietor 
put in a blower, which brought up an average yield of 
fifty barrels per day, sometimes sixty barrels. An out- 
sider, who pretends to know, reports the amount at forty 
barrels. Mr. Sherman was originally a poor, but very 
energetic man. He is still Energetic, but not poor. Had 
to borrow means enough to finish the drilling ; is now 
one of the magnates of that country. 

Fertig Well. — Started with sixty barrels per day, which 
gradually receded to ten, and then recovered somewhat. 
Now ranges between ten and twenty barrels, the average 
being probably fifteen. Is nearly two years old. Great- 
est decline during the cold weather, on the approach of 
which yield fell off one-half. 

Mem. — The proportion of productive wells on this 
farm and for some distance below, (say one mile beyond 
the Sherman well,) does not exceed one to every seven or 
eight of the whole number sunk. In some cases they are 
endeavoring to resuscitate the idle concerns. At one 
place counted more than twenty derricks, the machinery 
all standing still. Beyond those were ten or twelve be- 
longing to a Baltimore company, having been idle for 
some months ; but a portion of them would probably be 



124 Statistics of Production. 

tried anew before long. Continuing the journey down- 
ward, the next productive work is the 

Buckeye Well. — Yields from eight to ten barrels per 
day. Has just been tested anew, after being renovated. 
Put down about two and a half years ago. Depth, five 
hundred and fifty feet. 

Briggs Wells. ,^-Four in number — the Briggs, Sabine, 
Forest City, and Cayuga. First-named does not pump 
steadily. Betimes gives nothing, betimes as much as 
seventy barrels per day. Ordinarily ranges from twenty 
to twenty-five. Forest City yields about forty-five bar- 
rels per day. Was opened in 1863, when flowed one 
hundred and fifty barrels. Proprietors thought that was 
"not much of a shower," and let it go to the creek. 
Started again after oil had ri»n in price. Cayuga yields 
about eight barrels. Last summer gave thirty, but fell 
off in winter. Sabine in operation about two months, and 
when visited gave thirty-five barrels per day. All these 
wells are pumped. 

Huyde Koper Well. — Uses both a pump and a blower, 
which bring up forty barrels per day. Has been in ope- 
ration two or three years. Depth, four hundred and 
sixty feet. 

Mount Vernon Oil Company's Wells. — Four in num- 
ber. Two are doing little or nothing. One is said to 
average forty barrels per day. The other somewhat out 
of order and not going at the time. 

THE FUNK AND BOYD FAEMS. 

Village named Funkville, and already described. For- 
mer owner, one " Captain " Funk, who died recently one 
of the princes of Petrolia. The first flowing well ever 



Statistics of Production. 125 

struck was on this property ; and one of the most famous 
in the country is still productive, namely, the 

Empire Well, No. One. — Sunk in the summer of 
1861 ; and for a time flowed over two thousand barrels 
per day, the yield gradually declining, and then dying 
out. Last year a blower was put in with moderate suc- 
cess ; but with the pump has done better. On some days 
yields nearly one hundred barrels ; but the average is 
between sixty and seventy. Flow steady. 

Empire No. Two. — Idle, her tools having stuck fast. 
Never did any thing. No. Three is about eighteen 
months old, and yields fifteen barrels daily, with no fall- 
ing off perceptible. At first was a flowing well. 

Oceanic Oil Company's Wells. — Four in number. No. 
Three was testing with good prospects at time of visit. 
The others were not going. 

Jenkins Well. — Has been flowing for two months. 
Average yield given at one hundred barrels per day, with 
no reports outside to the contrary. 

Buckeye Well. — Eanges from twenty to forty barrels 
per day, with an average yield of nearly thirty. Flowed 
at one time six hundred barrels daily, sending up a col- 
umn of oil, when struck, described as being one hundred 
and fifty feet high. Now pumping. 

Hibbard Well No. Two. — Used to flow over one hun- 
dred barrels per day. Now pumps about twenty. Two 
years old. Depth, four hundred and eighty feet. 

T n Well. — Pumps about sixty-five barrels. Uses 

its own gas as fuel. Been in operation about two months. 
One-half interest belongs to Oceanic Oil Company ; the 
rest to Mr. Sherman. (K B. — The name is blotted in my 
note-book.) 



126 Statistics of Production. 

Hatch Wells. — Both idle, but preparing to resume 
work. One ordinarily yields about fifty barrels per day, 
and is now flowing nearly that quantity. Have set it 
down as good for forty. Another gives only two or three 
barrels oil, but gas enough to supply eight engines. 

Hadding No. Two Well. — Has been in operation three 
years. Does not go steadily. When in order, yields 
twenty barrels per day. Estimate its average at ten to 
twelve. 

American Well. — Has been in operation only a few 
weeks. Average yield reported at thirty barrels per day. 
Water not yet exhausted. 

Densmore Well No. Eleven* — New pumping well. 
Yield uncertain ; but supposed to be sixty barrels a day. 

Well No. Five. — Also new and pumping. Yield rated 
at seventy-five barrels per day. Two other wells doing 
nothing. Belong to same interest as last. 

Olmstead Wells. — No. Three produces, by pumping, 
fifty-five barrels per day. Is eighteen months old. No. 
One has been flowing at rate of seventy-five barrels for 
a day or two. No. Four pumps about seventy barrels 
daily. No. Two has been idle some years. 

Mem. — Very few wells on this flat reach to what is 
called " the third sand-rock," their average depth being 
between four hundred and fifty and four hundred and 
seventy -five feet. 

On the Boyd farm counted about forty derricks, nearly 
all idle. Most of them on east side of creek. A few were 
approaching completion. On the whole, this farm, like 
the lower portion of the Funk flat, has not been very 
productive. Fire broke out during the winter, and did 
serious damage. Near the lower end are — 






Statistics of Production. 127 

Wood and WrigMs Well. — Pumping about three bar- 
rels per day, when in operation, but now idle ; also a well, 
said to belong to "Wood & Company, and reported to 
pump, " by head," seven or eight barrels. 

BEIOTEHOOF EUN" 

is the name of a streamlet, perhaps ten miles long, dis- 
charging into Oil Creek from the west. It has lately ob- 
tained some celebrity from a flowing well struck on it and 
named— 

Lady Herman Well. — Belongs to a man named Her- 
man, who had the good sense to name it after his wife — 
so it is said. Average yield, between sixty and seventy 
barrels per day. Oil struck about two months since. 

Mowbray Well. — Old and abandoned for a time. 
Cleaning out and testing anew. Used to be a flowing 
well. New owner at work. 

Old Warren Well, No. Two. — When in operation, yields 
about ten barrels per day. Been re-tubed and is testing. 

Mem. — At different times numbers of wells have been 
sunk on this run. Mostly now idle. Number of old 
works, about fifteen. At least as many new derricks have 
gone up or are going. Preparations for a vigorous cam- 
paign quite active here. 

THE WASH. M'CLINTOCK FARM, OR PETROLEUM CENTRE. 

The principal wells on this tract are on the west side 
of the creek, and altogether the place is one of the most 
prosperous in the rural districts of Petrolia. Half a dozen 
refineries are on the farm, and great activity prevails in 
sinking wells, building houses, etc. Most of the flat be- 
longs to the Central Petroleum Oil Company, who lease 



128 Statistics of Production. 

out half-acre lots for a royalty of one-half the oil and a 
bonus of ten thousand dollars in money. In the incipient 
village, lots twenty by one hundred feet lease for one. 
hundred dollars per annum, all improvements reverting 
to the company at the end of five years ; while they have 
the right of entering upon the premises at any time, after 
thirty days' notice, to sink a well. Even on these steep 
conditions leases have been sold for a considerable pre- 
mium ! 

There is something unusual in the formation of this 
bottom. At one time the creek made a wide detour to 
the westward, describing a horse-shoe course for half a 
mile, and inclosing an island two hundred and fifty yards 
in length. More recently it has forsaken that part of its 
bed altogether and confined itself to the eastern and shorter 
channel, leaving the island a ridgy hill, about seventy-five 
feet high. The most productive wells are on the bottom, 
which was formerly the bed of the creek. That stream is 
crossed by a substantial bridge, the only one between 
Shaffer's and Oil City. Situated four miles below the for- 
mer and eight above the latter, the carrying trade divides 
near Petroleum Centre, going upward or downward by 
boat, according to circumstances. There is a hotel in the 
village. Subjoined are the wells in operation : 

Central Petroleum Company's Well, No. One. — Has 
been flowing for ten months. Gives twenty barrels per 
day on the average. Flows spasmodically, stopping alto- 
gether for forty minutes, then coughing, and expectorating, 
and discharging for five or six minutes. These reports 
and eructations increase till they sound like the exhausts 
of a steam-engine, and can be heard for quite a long dis- 
tance. This fit having spent itself, the discharge gradually 
subsides. 



Statistics of Production. 129 

No. Ten Well. — Belongs to same company. While 
drilling, about four weeks before visit, oil spirted forth, 
striking the top of the derrick and driving off the work- 
men. It flowed in a steady and powerful stream toward 
the creek. Many hundred barrels lost before the well 
could be tubed and the product saved. Is now calm and 
beginning to yield. Depth, five hundred and fifty feet. 
I rather guess than estimate the product at twenty barrels 
per day. 

Bluff Well. — Belongs to same company, and gives, by 
pumping, four to five barrels per day. For some time, 
^flowed from five hundred to eight hundred barrels daily ; 
but this gave out altogether. 

Coldwater No. Seven Well. — Pumps twenty barrels per 
day. Occasionally flows a little. "Was sunk last autumn. 
Depth, five hundred and eighty feet. 

Coldwater No. Three Well. — Newly opened and flowing 
at the rate of about twenty barrels per day. Struck the 
vein of No. Four, which has since gone dry or pumps 
only water. 

Coldwater Wells, One and Two. — Stopped, waiting for 
engines. Used to flow about twenty barrels per day each. 
No. Five pumps ten barrels a day. No. Six in progress. 

Central Petroleum Company 7 s Well, No. Two. — Pumps 
about fifteen barrels daily. No. Three flows and pumps 
about twenty barrels. No. Four idle. No. Five flows 
about sixty barrels. No. Six suspended. No. Seven pumps 
about fifteen barrels. Nos. Fight and Nine in progress. 

Fox Well, or No. Four. — Flowed one hundred and fifty 
barrels daily at one time. Now produces about forty. 
Keeping up steadily to that figure. Belongs to same 
interest. 



130 Statistics of Production. 

Swamp Angel Well. — About fourteen months old. 
Flows about fifteen barrels per day. 

Fowler and Custer's Wells. — Two in number. Pro- 
duce about twenty barrels per day. Leased from Central 
Petroleum Company for half the product. 

At no other point on the creek is the proportion of idle 
or unprofitable wells smaller than on this farm. On the 
upper part of it, however, a number were doing nothing 
at the time of visit ; and I estimate the number of paying 
wells at this moment at one-half of those which have been 
put down. It will be seen that of the productive works, 
a very considerable number were sunk the past year. OnC 
both sides of the creek numbers of new works are in prog- 
ress, climbing the hill-sides to the height of one hundred 
and fifty feet. 

THE EGBERT FARM 

lies nearly opposite to Petroleum Centre. It is some- 
times known as the Hyde and Egbert, having been owned 
by two persons, the latter a country physician, and both 
in moderate circumstances. It is now the most pro- 
ductive portion of Petrolia, with the possible exception of 
a farm on Cherry Eun. It is also near the geographical 
centre of the Pennsylvania oil region. Its principal well, 
and the most profitable in the country at present, is the — 
Coquette Well. — "Was opened last October, when took 
to flowing six hundred barrels per day. No actual test of 
its production has lately been made. Superintendent re- 
ports the last at five hundred and twenty barrels per day. 
Other reports place the actual amount at four hundred 
to four hundred and fifty barrels. Well has a long 
double range of tanks, whose aggregate capacity is fifteen 



Statistics of Production. 131 

thousand barrels, and connecting, by a set of pipes, with 
the creek, so that boats can be loaded in bulk. The dis- 
charges of this spring occur in regular successions of puffs 
and jets, noticed elsewhere; the series repeated five or six 
times per minute. About one-seventh of the interest in 
it recently sold in Philadelphia for three hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars. Property mostly owned in that 
city. 

Maple Shade Well.— Struck in August, 1863. Flows 
about fifty barrels per day. G-ave over one thousand bar- 
rels at one time — in fact, one of the glories of that country. 
Is about nineteen months old. Present yield reported to 
be keeping steady. One year ago, was burned down, to- 
gether with ten thousand barrels of oil and twenty thou- 
sand barrels of tankage. Belongs to Maple Shade Oil 
Company of Philadelphia, who receive one-sixth of the 
oil produced on three-fourths of Egbert farm, and five- 
twelfths of that on remaining fourth. 

Getty sburgh Well. — Opened last autumn. Yields from 
twenty-five to thirty barrels per day, with tools fast in 
bottom. Flowed at first about ten barrels daily. "Work- 
ing interest leased for one-half oil. 

Gimlet Well. — Was yielding from ten to twelve barrels 
per day before stopping to re-tube. Tried the blower, 
but had to take it out. Now applying the pump to 
exhaust water. 

A well in operation on the Dalzell farm is said to give 
thirty barrels daily. Further particulars not ascertained. 
A safer figure would be twenty barrels. 

Jersey Well. — A famous well, struck in the early part 
of last summer. Yielded three hundred and thirty bar- 
rels (flowing) for live months, on single days running up 



132 Statistics of Production. 

to four hundred barrels. Capacity of tanks, ten thousand 
barrels. Present yield supposed to be between two hun- 
dred and two hundred and fifty barrels daily ; but has not 
been tested lately. Mem. — If the yield were increasing, 
figures would be duly published. Hence, infer that pro- 
duction is below two hundred barrels. P. S. — I have 
since learned that the Jersey well gave out in May, the 
spring having been tapped by another well. 

Keystone Well, JVo. One. — A good well at one time, but 
now idle. 

ITepler Well. — Flowed largely for a time. Now pumps 
about four barrels per day. One year old. 

THE STORY FARM. 

The wells on this farm lie chiefly on the west side of 
the creek. The upper part of this, like the lower part of 
the Egbert, is rather poor " territory." In that section a 
bare quarter of the works pays operating expenses. On 
the best part of the Egbert farm one-half of the wells ate 
idle. Story farm (five hundred acres) belongs to the 
Columbian Oil Company of Pittsburgh, who have sunk 
over one hundred wells, of which about fifty are said to 
have been profitable concerns. Last year they put down 
thirteen, not one of which paid expenses. The best wells 
are close to the bluff, at a considerable distance from 
the creek, and the bottom is nearly abandoned. The 
company prefer boring on their own account to granting 
leases ; though they have granted some at a royalty of 
one-half. They have been one of the most successful in 
the valley. They design to sink a large number of new 
wells the present season ; the number estimated at one 
hundred. Three refineries on the farm. The principal 
works are — 



Statistics of Production. 133 

Bam- Cat Well. — Opened about fourteen months ago. 
Original yield, (by flowing,) three hundred barrels per 
day. Present yield, probably about sixty. 

Hubbard Well. — Has lately yielded four barrels a day. 
Been in operation three or four years. 

Flora Wells.— Owned by Western Pennsylvania Oil 
Company. Two of them give, on the average, fifty bar- 
rels a day. One produced over four years, and another, 
eleven months before stopping. A third flowed one hun- 
dred and twenty -five barrels per day for a time, and kept 
on producing for eighteen months. 

Reynolds Well. — Pumped as high as fifty barrels per 
day for a time ; recently gave twenty-five ; now pumping 
out water. Two or three years old, and belongs to Oil 
Creek and Cherry Eun Company. 

Columbia Oil Company, No. Two, Well. — Just com- 
mencing to yield, and quantity unknown. No. Thirty- six 
about two years old ; averages fifty barrels per day. 

Titus Well. — Flows ninety barrels per day; at one 
time gave one hundred and fifty. Is eighteen months old. 

Perry Well. — Has averaged one hundred barrels per 
day (flowing) for fifteen months. 

Dorman Well. — Eanges from five to fifteen barrels per 
day by pump. In operation about two months. Two 
other wells on same lot ; one choked up by mud-slide, the 
other cleaned and tested with "good show." 

Hollow Well. — Has given as high as one hundred bar- 
rels per day. Gave lately seventy-five on average. Out 
of order and undergoing repairs. 

Hollow Well, No. Four. — Has been going about four 
months, and now yields nearly one hundred barrels per 
day.^ 

Eicholtz Well. — Going two or three years. Ranges 



134: Statistics of Production. 

from ten to one hundred barrels per day. Average be- 
lieved to be from thirty to thirty-five. 

Lady's Well, No. Four. — The only one of five wells 
on lease now producing oil. Pumps eighty barrels per 
day regularly. In operation for a year. Started at sev- 
enty-five barrels. In winter, averaged only twenty. 

Lady's Well, No. One or Old Lady' s Well. — Quite fam- 
ous in the annals of Petrolia. Part of the extraordinary 
crop of 1861. Flowed five hundred barrels per day at 
first, and kept on yielding till last August, when gave out. 
Now idle. Might give one or two barrels, if pumped. 
Last summer, gave fifty barrels a day, and stopped in con- 
sequence of the withdrawal of a set of tubes on adjoining 
farm. Mr. Wade, the superintendent, it is claimed, was 
the first to introduce the use of gas in driving the 
machinery. 

Ryder <& Co.'s Wells. — One has been running since 
last August. Yields ten barrels per day. The other just 
testing, and result unknown. Nothing but water as yet. 

Gipner Wells. — Two in number. Average yield of 
both, eighty-five barrels. One over twelve, the other 
seven months in operation. 

Manor Wells.' — Also two, which averaged a little over 
fifty barrels a day for past year. 

Salem Well. — Flowing about ten barrels a day. Sup- 
ply of gas sufficient to drive two engines. Has been run- 
ning a year, with no perceptible decrease, whether from 
use of gas or otherwise. 

Painter, Nichols <& Co?s Well. — Pumping about ten 
barrels per day. Continued for two years at this rate. 

Malloney Well. — Idle with tools in bottom. Four 
years old. Eated as a seventy-five barrel well, but over- 
rated. 



Statistics of Production. 135 

Bluff Well. — Complain about bad luck lately. Has 
been giving from twelve to fifteen barrels per day for 
about two months. Bather weak in the knees at present. 

Lloyd Wells. — Two in number, giving together forty 
barrels daily. One has been going three years ; the other, 
six months. 

Well. — Ee-tubing. Flowed at one time fifty 

to sixty barrels per day. No reliable statistics lately. 

Hamburgh Well. — Flowing between sixty and seventy 
barrels per day. Gave one hundred at one time. Been 
nine months in operation. # 

Old Say Well. — Eetubed and testing. Pumped fifteen 
barrels per day till two weeks ago. 

THE TARR FARM 

has yielded more oil than any other in Petrolia, or per- 
haps in the world. A brief notice of the career of its late 
owner will not be amiss here. " Previous to the petro- 
leum excitement," writes the correspondent of the London 
Morning Post, " the owner (Mr. Tarr) was in great straits, 
his business of rafting lumber, in addition to the cultiva- 
tion of his miserable acres, scarcely yielding enough to 
support himself and family in the humble way in which 
they lived. . . But the oil adventurers came along, 
and secured a right to bore, giving half the oil to the land- 
owner. The result was that the Philips well struck oil, 
and yielded over two thousand barrels daily, which, even 
at the moderate price then current, yielded a magnificent 
revenue to the owners and also to Tarr. Other wells were 
sunk and met with great success, so that the poor lumber- 
man and farmer speedily grew rich. In August, 1863, 
when the price of petroleum ruled low, Tarr sold half the 



136 Statistics of Production. 

interest of his farm for one hundred and ten thousand 
dollars cash, and retired to a handsome residence in the 
adjoining county. But fortune will not let her favorites 
alone. The remaining interest in his land and wells in- 
creased in value until his daily income was counted by 
thousands of dollars. During the month of December just 
passed, he closed out his remaining interest on the creek 
for two million dollars, at which price he considered him- 
self throwing the property away. Uneducated himself, 
this oil-prince is spending money lavishly on the education 
of his family ; and some amusing but rather doubtful sto- 
ries are told of his estimation of the power of money in 
matters of education." The estate is owned by the Tarr 
Farm Petroleum Company. 

The " developed" portion of this property lies on the 
east side of the creek, a village of about fifty houses and 
huts resting on the shoulder of the hill. In some places, 
the bottom is so thickly covered with derricks, etc., that 
it hardly seems possible to crowd in another. Tanks are 
standing together by the acre along the margin of the 
creek. 

Old Philips Well.— One of the oldest on the creek, 
having been opened in the early part of 1861. Yield by 
flowing at first very large ; one account says fifteen hun- 
dred barrels per day. Declined gradually, and at last gave 
out altogether, when applied the pump. "Well now gives 
about twenty-five barrels per day. 

Philips Well, No. Two. — Once the greatest in the world. 
When opened, in October, 1861, flowed thirty-nine hun- 
dred and forty barrels in a single day ! A child may play 
with an elephant ; and the flow of this monster could be 
regulated by a stop-cock whenever the tankage came short. 



Statistics of Production. 137 

But trouble came. In December following, the Woodford 
well was put down within seventy-five feet, and tapped 
the great Philips spring ; the Woodford responding to the 
figure of nearly two thousand barrels a day. Both wells 
were a little under five hundred feet deep. The Woodford 
gave out in December, 1853 ; but meanwhile it had inflicted 
serious loss on the Philips, and the lawyers were called in 
to decide the dispute. It was at last settled by a compro- 
mise, and the Philips resumed with a much more sober 
flow. In 1864, it was shut down for seven months, and 
in November ceased altogether to flow. When visited in 
April, it had begun to pump about fifty barrels per day. 
This well has been productive for two years and a half, 
and the oil furnished by it would probably suffice to pay 
the cost of all the wells sunk on that farm. 

Monitor Well. — Pumping twenty-five barrels per day, 
and reported to be gaining. Has gone a week at this rate. 
Used to be a flowing well. 

Smith's Wells, J¥os. One and Two. — Just recommenced. 
Both flowed at one time. JYo. Two, with a blower, now 
yields about twenty barrels per day ; JVo. One, little ex- 
cept water. Both about three years old. 

Kirwan Well. — Used to give one hundred and twenty 
barrels per day. Stopped for the winter, and just started 
afresh. Before stopping gave eight barrels daily. 

Pratt and Sherman Well. — Has done little lately. 
Yielded over one hundred barrels per day at one time, but 
now dropsical. Was six weeks in pumping out the water 
last spring — a too general complaint now on Tarra farma. 

Sterling Well. — Said to give over fifty barrels per day, 
but the statement appears very questionable, judging from 



138 Statistics of Production, 

the discharge. It was largely water, when visited, with 
not more than thirty barrels of oil. 

William Penn Wells. — Two of them are pumping out 
bilge- water. Owners about putting a blower into the third. 
The last yields about five barrels daily. Never was of 
much account. 

Woodford Well. — Broke the spell of the Big Philips. 
Has been idle for three months, with some prospect of 
yielding oil again. 

Barely one-fourth of the wells on Tarr farm are active, 
and of those it will be seen that several are exhausting 
the water only. Others were preparing to resume, but it 
was not thought probable that the brine or brackish water 
would be pumped out before the middle of May or the 
first of June. Hardly one in ten continued actively at 
work during the winter. In consequence of puncturing 
the ground at every few rods and the withdrawal of tubes, 
the Tarr farm, from being the best, has become only third- 
class property. The period during which productive wells 
now actually yield oil does not average six months in the 
year. 

THE BLOOD FARM 

is named after its previous owner, Mr. Blood, now also a 
petroleum millionaire. The property is owned in part by 
the Blood Farm Petroleum Association, and in part by 
the Home Petroleum Company. Property lies on both 
sides of the creek. Below is a list of the active works : 
Lehigh Wells. — Three in number. No. One is getting 
ready. Belongs to Germanic Oil Company. No. Two is 
in operation, and yields about ten barrels per day. No. 
Three gives thirty barrels. 



Statistics of Production. 139 

Collins Well. — Information refused. Estimated the yield 
at not more than ten barrels per day. Four-fifths of dis- 
charge is water. Well is reported to give thirty barrels 
per day sometimes. 

Burning Well. — Great flowing concern at one time. Gave 
six hundred barrels per day at first, but decreased gradu- 
ally, and is now idle. 

Pilkins Well. — Used to give one hundred and fifty bar- 
rels a day. Is eighteen months old. Broke down lately, 
and is not doing much at present. 

Barrow and Painter's Well. — No. Two gives average yield 
of twenty to twenty-five barrels per day. ISTew well, just 
tested. Appearances good. 

Duncan Well. — Yields fifty barrels a day ; on some days 
as much as sixty. Has been at work about two years. 
Owner a heavy operator on Cherry Kun and elsewhere. 

Ocean Company's Well. — Been in operation only about 
one week. Gives six or seven barrels per day. 

True Boy Well. — Has been flowing about twenty barrels 
per day for past three weeks ; average for past year, about 
ten barrels. Been running two or three years. 

Maple Grove Well. — Pumps about forty barrels per day. 
Has been going over three years. Began with small tub- 
ing, and yielded only twenty-five barrels. "With improved 
apparatus has done better. 

Combs and Prince Well. — Been going nearly a year. 
Yields ten to twelve barrels a day by pumping. Another 
well on same lease just testing. 

Bushnell Well — Gives between thirty and forty barrels 
daily. Two or three years old. 

Old Reed Well— Flowed ten barrels per day until the 



140 Statistics of Production. 

vein was tapped by another, when the quantity named fell 
off to a mere dripping, probably not one barrel per day. 

Buffalo Well. — Yields about five barrels daily. Dis- 
charges, by flowing, about three times per minute. 

Mem. — Nearly all the wells on the lower part of Blood 
farm are unproductive, not more than one in ten showing 
signs of activity, when passed through. A small number 
of new ones are going down along the heights. On the 
upper end, a large majority of them are also idle, having 
given out or been damaged by flood. Some are deepen- 
ing, with a view to reaching a lower source than has yet 
been discovered. Nearly half the derricks are new, but 
a majority of these are inactive. 

CHERRYTREE RUN. 

This is the name of a mill-stream discharging into Oil 
Creek from the west, a short distance above Rouseville. 
It acquired, last winter, some celebrity from a flowing 
well known as the 

Big Tank Well. — Was yielding over fifty barrels per 
day, when the works caught fire and burned up. The 
well has not since been rigged up again. Why it has been 
suffered to remain so, I have not learned. 

Waterson's Well. — Just testing. Yielded by pumping, 
first twenty-four hours, twelve or fifteen barrels. 

A great number of new works are in progress along 
that stream. Grood judges estimate the aggregate at fully 
one hundred. A village is rising at the mouth of the run. 

THE RYND FARM. 

That portion of the Rynd farm which has been subject- 
ed to the drill lies chiefly on the east side of the creek. 



Statistics of Production. 141 

A machine-shop and a saw-mill are at work on the bottom. 
Of the whole number of wells sunk about one-fifth were 
active, when visited, and the proportion of new derricks 
to old is not very different — perhaps a little greater. The 
movement is generally made to higher ground. 

Diamond Well. — Has been in operation two years. 
Pumps about twenty barrels daily. Depth, a little over 
five hundred feet, about the usual figure. 

Rynd Farm Company's Well, No. Eight. — Has been go- 
ing about two months. Yields, by pumping, twenty-five 
barrels per day. 

Frost Company's Well. — Flows about five barrels per day. 

Lathrop Well, No. Fourteen.— -Testing. Show pronounced 
good. Product so far, estimated at five barrels per day. 
Well to be deepened. Owners evidently not satisfied with 
performance. 

Lathrop Well, No. — . — Pumped two days, and said to 
have given about fifteen barrels per day. 

Frost Company's Well, ' No. Sixteen. — Three years old. 
Pumped ten barrels per day until lately. Putting in new 
engine. 

Frost Company's Well, No. — . — "Used to give one hun- 
dred and fifty barrels per day by flowing ; now gives ten 
by pumping. 

WIDOW MCCLINTOCK FARM. 

There is considerable activity on this estate. Several 
wells which had lain idle, in addition to those mentioned 
underneath, are about to be deepened or start pumping 
again. Those in operation are the following : 

Hammond Well. — "Was a flowing spring. Produced five 
hundred barrels daily for a time. Is now idle. While 



142 Statistics of Production. 

tubes withdrawing, they fell to the bottom and could not 
be recovered. Proprietors now boring another alongside. 

Chase Well. — Was pumping thirty-five barrels per day 
before the great freshet. Damaged by it and since idle. 
Manager clearing it out and preparing to resume work. 

Bumstead Well. — Newly opened. Pumped one hundred 
barrels the first day — so stated. Seed-bags burst and not 
yet replaced. No reason to doubt the correctness of this 
statement. 

McCue Well, No. Four. — Just reopened. Yields half a 
barrel or so daily, but expected to do better when water 
is exhausted. 

Georgiana Well. — Old work. Long idle, and- just started 
again. Pumps about fifteen barrels per day. 

King Well. — Belongs to Buffalo and Cherry Valley Oil 
Company. Been in operation about six months. Said to 
yield ten barrels per day. Outside statements and appear- 
ances incline me to put the amount at five or six. 

Cincinnati Well. — Averaged fourteen barrels per day 
last week. Is expected to do rather better than half that 
quantity. Opened about first of January last, but not 
pumped regularly. 

Westmoreland Well. — Just struck oil. Tools fell in and 
stuck fast. Good show of oil. 

Painter Well. — About two years old. Averages about 
ten barrels per day. 

Sterrett Well. — At one time yielded one hundred and 
fifty barrels per day. Now ranges from five to thirty, with 
an average of nearly twenty barrels. Day of visit, gave 
thirty. 

Sterrett Well No. Three. — Struck oil about the first of 



Statistics of Production. 143 

December last. Idle all winter. Now pumping about 
twenty-five barrels per day. 

Sankey Well. — About eighteen months in operation. 
Flows about four barrels daily. 

Ocean Well. — Yielded little before getting burned. 

TamliiU Well. — In operation about six weeks. Giving 
six barrels per day, with steady yield. 

EOUSEVILLE, 

situated at the mouth of Cherry Eun, which enters from 
the east, is one of the most active villages in the valley. 
It has, besides the post-office, hotels, etc., a bank, a church, 
and an oil refinery. Some travellers regard Eouseville as 
the metropolis of Petrolia, and if supreme disorder in lay- 
ing out the place, mud, and high prices constitute the test, 
this village will take a high rank. It is named after Mr. 
Eouse, who died in one of the great conflagrations alluded 
to elsewhere. He was conscious long enough to bequeath 
large sums to charitable uses. 

Of the works in Oil Creek valley, immediately in front 
of Eouseville, nearly seven-eighths were idle at the time 
of visiting. Along the bluff the ratio was not so unfa- 
vorable. About fifty new derricks have been erected on 
the heights on both sides of Cherry Eun, at elevations 
from fifty to one hundred feet. These works are not all 
active. The wells on Cherry Eun proper will be noticed 
under a separate head. Annexed are the statistics of the 
principal on Oil Creek : 

Wilhughby Well. — Was a flowing well three years ago. 
Now pumps about five barrels per day. 

Shaft Well. — Belongs to Allen, Wright & Company. 



144 Statistics of Production. 

Used to be a fifty-barrel well, but vein tapped by another, 
one hundred and twenty -five feet off. Now pumps from 
ten to forty barrels, according to condition of the tubes in 
other well. Up to last November, had produced twenty- 
four thousand barrels, worth probably one hundred thou- 
sand dollars. Uses its own gas in furnace. 

Miller, Riddle c& Company's Well. — Has been going since 
last January. Yielded two hundred barrels at first ; now 
averages about sixty per day. 

Faulkner Well. — Pumps about twenty barrels daily. 
Yield improving. Has been in operation since last 
December. Estimate above considered safe and rather 
low. 

Manville Well. — In operation a little over three months. 
Pumps fully twenty barrels per day. 

Gate Well. — Four months, in operation. Yield aver- 
ages ten barrels daily. 

Hope Well. — Been going about three years, and still 
pumping about fifty barrels daily. 

Haines dk Anderson Well. — Was an eighty-barrel 
well until lately. Managers complain of bad luck, oil- 
vein having been struck by other wells, some as far as 
two hundred yards distant. Has done little for &ve 
months. 

Pawling Well. — At one time, gave one hundred bar- 
rels per day ; but suffers from same misfortune as the last- 
named. Pumped eighteen or twenty barrels the day be- 
fore visit. Been in operation about six months. 

Oil Exchange Company's Well, No. Two. — Yields very 
little. 

Webster Well, (west side of creek,) No. Eight. — Put 
down last year. Gives from six to eight barrels daily. 



Statistics of Production. 145 

Well on Lot No. Forty-seven. — Belongs to a Mr. 
Means. Produces six or seven barrels per day. 

Chamberlain and Hiboartfs Well. — Sunk last year. 
Average daily yield, ten barrels. 

No. Forty -five Well. — Sunk last February. Yields 
about ten barrels per day. 

THE BUCHANAN FAKM 

lies immediately below Eouseville, the works being 
nearly all on the east side of the creek. Like all the other 
bottoms low down the valley, this farm was severely 
scourged by the great freshet. At the time of my visit, 
four-fifths of the wells were idle ; indeed, on the upper 
portion of it, not one engine was running. The greater 
part of the wells appeared to have been abandoned as bad 
jobs, not merely laid up by a temporary misfortune. It 
is possible, however, that, through an oversight of mine, 
two or three producing wells on this property have not 
been examined. 

Clark and Banktfs Wells. — One in operation about 
four years ; the other, eighteen months. The two yield 
nearly one hundred barrels per day. 

Willoughby Well. — Just started. Yields from one to 
two barrels daily. 

Wadsworth Well. — Yields water only as yet. 

Well on the west side creek, just started. Day before 
visit flowed some oil ; but workmen cannot say how 
much. 

THE JOHN AND HAM. M'CLINTOCK FARMS 

come next in order, in passing down the valley. Mc- 
Clintock village is the " hub " of this " territory " — a 
7 



146 Statistics of Production. 

feeble imitation of Oil City, squatting on the bottom, with 
a hotel, several boarding-houses, and two or three refiner- 
ies. About one well in every five sunk was in operation 
when visited, and the new derricks bore a like propor- 
tion to old ones. Part of those have been erected over 
wells whose former head-gear had been washed away 
or destroyed by the flood. The principal degree of activ- 
ity prevailing about the old works is nearly confined to 
the upper end of this property; but lower down there 
are others in progress. 

McKinley Well. — Flows from fifty to sixty barrels per 
day. Stream never stops altogether, but increases and 
diminishes largely. Principal discharge takes place about 
once in six minutes. 

Baltimore and Venango Oil Company's Well. — Situ- 
ated on the east side. Oil struck last February. Pumped 
at the rate of sixty barrels per day, when managers pulled 
out sucker-rods and well began to flow. Now yields, ac- 
cording to information, two hundred and fifty barrels per 
day. Is probably good for two hundred barrels. 

Hibhard Well. — Pumps about ten barrels per day. 

Par~ker Well. — Close by last. Pumps one barrel daily. 

Abbot Well. — In operation five months. Eeported to 
be flowing one hundred and fifty barrels per day. Yielded 
two hundred and forty at one time. Is on the decline ; 
and I estimate the actual yield at probably not far from 
one hundred and twenty. 

McClintock Petroleum Company's Wells. — One had 
pumped thirty barrels per day for last ten days. Another 
yields about ten barrels. 

A flowing well, on east side, (name not ascertained,) 
pours out a steady stream for some minutes, then subsides 



Statistics of Production. 147 

for about an equal space. Belongs to a New-York inter- 
est. Struck oil about a week before visit. Yielded sixty 
barrels per day at first, then about forty. 

The success of these few really good wells in the lower 
end of the valley, at a time when its reputation had begun 
to wane, has caused property to appreciate once more ; 
and adventurers are likely to turn their attention afresh to 
those bottoms. 



lying still nearer to Oil City, is rather less productive and 
active than those above it. In some localities nearly 
every derrick is standing idle. About one-third of the 
works are in progress. Nearly all are on the west side, 
the bottom here being one-third of a mile across. 

Hemlock Well. — On east side of creek. Before the 
freshet, pumped sixty barrels a day. Present yield not 
ascertained ; estimate at thirty. 

Cuba Well. — Been opened about eight months, and is 
pumping one hundred and fifty barrels per day, according 
to information. Estimate at one hundred and twenty. 

Bliss Well, No. One. — Struck oil on first April. Flow 
estimated at fifty barrels per day. 

Bliss Well, No. Two. — Just testing, with good prospects ; 
but actual yield unknown. Quite wrathy with flow of 
gas and frequent spirts of oil. Well No. Three in progress. 

Well re- tubed and just commenced again. Yield esti- 
mated at five barrels per day ; gave one hundred and forty 
barrels at one time. Another well close by, pumping about 
two barrels daily. Names not ascertained. 

On Cornplanter Eun, entering from the west a short dis- 
tance above Oil City, is a flowing or dripping well, whose 



14:8 Statistics of Production. 

yield (of lubricating oil) is from three to four barrels per 
week. 

Between the mouth of this stream and Oil City are 
three other wells in operation, with an aggregate yield of 
about ten barrels per day. 

On the last two miles of the valley, I counted about 
seventy derricks, a majority of which appeared to be 
abandoned. Signs of activity near fifteen or twenty. On 
and near Cornplanter Eun were a dozen or so of works in 
progress. On or below the Clapp farm were nine refiner- 
ies, of which only two were active, and several had been 
damaged by water. Found it very difficult to get facts 
thereabouts, as, in addition to the extensive solitudes ex- 
isting, new hands had gone to work at several of the wells. 

Between Oil City and Eouseville (three miles) the 
number of derricks standing was, last winter, ascertained 
to be four hundred and thirty-five, which would be equiva- 
lent to at least five hundred wells actually put down. In 
walking, multitudes of pits are seen without any upper 
works attached, these having been washed away, burned, 
or removed. As an approximate estimate, I give the 
number of wells put down on Oil Creek proper at two 
thousand, with five hundred more in progress. To these 
should be added one thousand more, either finished or 
going down, along the various streams discharging into 
that great oil artery. The new works will be found to 
number not far from one thousand in this basin only ; but 
the aggregate of abandoned ones is doubtless still larger. 
Assuming, then, that every derrick put up should be fol- 
lowed by its productive well, the whole number would be 
insufficient to replace those which have been sunk the 
past five years, and are likejy to be left to themselves the 



Statistics of Production. 149 

present season. And, indeed, if we add to this basin those 
of the Alleghany, French Creek, Pithole, etc., I question 
whether the new will do more than replace all the old. 
But a comparatively small number of those put down in 
the past year, or to be put down in the present, will yield 
oil in paying quantities, much less gush forth as did the 
wonderful springs reached in 1861. 

CHEEKY KUN 

is by far the most important tributary of Oil Creek. It 
is ten or twelve miles long ; but at its mouth, scarcely 
more than six feet wide. At its lower extremity the val- 
ley is quite narrow, scarcely more than a stone-throw 
across, but higher up it widens, and the heights on each 
side become less abrupt. Above Plumer the run forks 
into two streams, along both of which large numbers of 
new works are rising. The wells already productive are 
confined to a space within two miles of its mouth ; but 
when I visited the valley, several others approached com- 
pletion near Plumer, and their managers felt confident of 
striking oil. It is scarcely a year since that secluded val- 
ley was invaded in good earnest by the petroleum interest, 
the Yankee well having been opened in the early part of 
1864. This, followed by such celebrities as the Eeed, the 
Mountain, the Auburn, etc., soon impelled a vast number 
of operators to the neighborhood, until the surface is liter- 
ally forested with works, and the ground punctured every 
few rods. On one acre-lot, twenty-five derricks have 
already been erected. Beginning from the upper end of 
the valley, we find the following works in operation : 
Rockwell Well. — Owned by Allen, Wright & Co. 



150 Statistics of Production. 

Opened last June. Steady yield, pumping twelve barrels 
in twenty-four hours. 

Dearborn Well. — Opened in middle of last July. 
Pumps fifteen to twenty barrels per day. Belongs to the 
Cherry Kan Petroleum Company. 

Carver Well. — Just tested. Pumps fifteen barrels 
per twenty-four hours. Yield said to be on the increase. 

Emary Well. — Newly opened. Flows sixteen barrels, 
but will pump twenty per day. The latter tried occasion- 
ally. Yield said to be on the increase. 

Main and Horn Bluff Well. — Flows one hundred and 
twenty barrels per day. Situated on the bluff, about fifty 
feet above the bottom. Six tanks, with capacity of about 
five thousand barrels. 

Allen, Wright <& Co? s Well. — Has been flowing about 
a year. Yields an average of seventy barrels per day. 
Two others, belonging to same interest, pump respectively 
two and thirty-five barrels per day. 

Follett Well, No.. Three. — Been three or four months in 
operation. Yields about six barrels per day. 

Anderson Well. — Owned by United States Oil Com- 
pany. Keported to have been flowing three years (?) 
Now yielding eighteen barrels daily. 

Ennis <& Bahcock Well. — Situated on face of bluff. 
Now giving ten barrels daily. 

United States Well, No. Four. — Been in operation since 
last August. Yields twelve to fifteen barrels per day. 

Potter and Jack Well. — Been in operation three years. 
Kanges from ten to fifteen barrels per day. 

TJtica Well. — In operation. Could get no facts. 

Alhambra Well. — Belongs to Brown, Eockwell & Co. 
Pumped nearly one hundred barrels per day before burn- 



Statistics of Production. 151 

ing down ; now, about fifty barrels. Ee-commenced about 
one week. 

Auburn Refinery Well. — Owned by the Messrs. Orr, 
together with small refinery there. "Well sunk eighteen 
months. Tools lost and just recovered. Eaised three or 
four barrels lately. Prospect poor. 

Alden, Brown dk Perdu's Well. — Just started. Got 
six or eight barrels the day before visit. 

Buffalo Well. — Has yielded in all about twenty-five 
barrels. JSTow dry. 

Marietta Well. — In operation about four months. 
Yield irregular, on account of defects in machinery. 
Highest quantity, twenty-five barrels per day; average 
believed to be about fifteen for past week. 

Well JVo. Nineteen. — Owned by Poole, Brothers. Never 
been fairly tested, but produced oil. Tools fast in bottom. 

Union Petroleum Company's Wells. — Four already in 
operation. Aggregate yield, about one hundred and 
twenty-five barrels per day, or eight hundred and seventy- 
five per week. Three flow steadily and one irregularly. 
Been going various periods, from nine months to three 
weeks. Company will have five more completed in as 
many weeks ; two others are also in progress. A New- 
York city interest. 

Moody Wells. — JVo. One gives from twenty to twenty- 
five barrels per day and is gaining. In operation eight 
or nine months. JVo. Two is a new well, nearly equal to 
the other. JVo. Three, also new, only three weeks opened. 
.Pumps nearly fifty barrels per day. Aggregate yield, 
probably eighty-five barrels. 

Allen <& Wright Oil Company's Well, JVo. Eighty- 
one. — Gives about twelve barrels per day, or eighty-four 



152 Statistics of Production. 

per week. JVo. Eighty-four gives forty barrels daily. 
Has been going about three months. 

Brevoorfs Company's Wells. — JVo. One pumps about 
fifty barrels a day. Four or five months in operation. 
JVo. Two flows, in irregular jets, about eight barrels. 
JVo. Three pumps about twenty barrels and is gaining. 
JVo. Tour, about fifty-five barrels per day. 

Mountain Well. — One of the greatest in all Petrolia. 
Is perched on the face of the bluff, fifty or sixty feet above 
the bottom. Very slight spasms perceptible in the dis- 
charges. Quantity yielded, given at three hundred and 
eighty barrels per day ; but a person who " timed " it is 
positive that it took five days to fill a tank of eleven hun- 
dred barrels, averaging two hundred and twenty barrels. 
Its flow was considerably larger than that of Keed well, 
when visited. Yery little water in either. 

Heed Well. — Flowed one thousand barrels per day at 
first. Now reported at two hundred and eighty barrels. 
I estimate its actual amount at between one hundred and 
seventy-five and two hundred. Opened last July. Flow 
described as being uniform and steady, no change having 
been noticed during last three months. Is, however, un- 
doubtedly on the decline. "Well and two acres of land 
sold lately for six hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 

Duff Tract or Crewell Well. — Owned by Mingo Oil 
Company of Philadelphia. Produces about fifty-five bar- 
rels per day, but rated at seventy. Eecently opened. 
Oil comes spasmodically. 

Bradley Wells. — One of them lately abandoned, after 
having pumped twenty to twenty-five barrels a day for 
some time. Fell off to nothing. " 

Rynd Farm Oil Company's Well. — Perched on bluff, 



Statistics of Production. 153 

sixty or seventy feet above the stream. Depth, six hun- 
dred and fifty feet, or a correspondingly greater distance 
than those sunk in valley. Has been flowing about eighty- 
five barrels per day for four weeks. 

Benny Well. — Belongs to Curtiss Oil Company. Pumps 
about sixteen barrels per day, on average. 

Pai^lcer Well. — Testing. From appearances, they ex- 
pect ten barrels per day. 

Amazon Well. — Flows about twenty barrels daily. 
Open since last November. 

Wood Well, No. One. — Just completed. Show con- 
sidered rather poor. Other wells nearly finished on slope, 
said to have good show. 

Rochester Well. — By pumping, gives about, twenty 
barrels per day. 

Baiter Well.- — Flowing from forty-five to eighty bar- 
rels daily. Safe to estimate the average at sixty barrels. 
Well reported at two hundred and twenty. Discharges 
spasmodically. 

Waikins Well. — Flows and pumps, (to get the paraf- 
fine out of crevices.) Yield, about fifty barrels per day. 
Tubed during time of flood. Started week before visit. 

Auburn Well. — Been going since last July. Yield, 
about sixty barrels per day, except when gas gave trou- 
ble. A flowing well. 

No. Fifteen Well. — Started flowing last September. 
Ean up to one hundred and sixty barrels per day. Burst 
seed-bags and just started anew. This and Auburn foam, 
spirt, and flow spasmodically ; while the "Watkins pours 
out (by flowing) a steady stream for two or three minutes 
and then subsides. Estimate at forty barrels. 
7* 



154 Statistics of Production. 

Ballot Well. — Flows about sixty barrels per day. 
Opened the present year. 

Little Giant Well. — Yields about thirty-five barrels a 
day. Would give forty, if pumped steadily. Been four 
weeks in operation. 

Wade No. Four Well. — Flows with a steady stream. 
Daily yield, about twenty-five barrels. Been going for 
two months. 

Yankee Well. — One of the most eccentric productions 
of Petrolia. After twenty minutes' rest, discharging nei- 
ther oil nor gas, the tube begins to emit gentle puffs, ac- 
companied by little spirts of oil, both increasing for 
three minutes, until they became quite violent and fre- 
quent. Can be heard for a distance of two hundred 
yards. Noise and discharges then gradually subside, and 
at the end of five or six minutes stop altogether. Yield, 
about fifty barrels per day. This and several of the 
wells named above belong to the Cherry Valley Oil Com- 
pany, who own a tract of land and have leased out several 
lots to other interests. The Yankee was the first grand 
success achieved in that part of the valley known as 
Smith's farm. 

Apropos of that property, the correspondent quoted 
above writes : " Less than three years since, a man named 
Smith, poor in pocket and in resources, owned a farm [of 
fifty acres]' about three miles up Cherry Eun. Unable 
to get any thing out of his farm, he endeavored to sell it, 
and get down on the creek to try his fortune at oil-mining. 
His creditors were pressing and in a desperate mood he 
applied to J. W. Sherman, who had then recently struck 
oil, and was getting rich, offering to sell his farm for two 
hundred and fifty dollars. Sherman declined and ad- 



Statistics of Production. 155 

vised him to keep the farm,- in case something to his ad- 
vantage might turn up. But Smith was determined to sell, 
and eventually found a purchaser at five hundred dollars. 
The new owner re-sold it at twenty-four hundred dollars, 
and just a year ago it was re-sold to the Cherry Ktm 
Oil Company for sixty -five hundred dollars. That com- 
pany granted leasehold rights to bore on the land, re- 
serving a royalty of half the oil. Only a small portion 
of the farm has yet been leased ; but the royalty to the 
company is now three hundred barrels of oil, or about 
three thousand dollars daily. Thus two days' income 
about pays for the entire purchase of the property, on 
which the proprietors have not expended a dollar beyond 
the original cost." 

I may add a few additional facts, obtained from the 
superintendent of that company. Of twenty-two wells 
sunk and tested on that farm, all but one gave petroleum 
in paying quantities, and even that exceptional case 
yielded a little. All the parties who have taken leases 
are represented as having succeeded, their net profits hav- 
ing ranged from ten thousand dollars to five hundred 
thousand dollars. There is no land for sale in that vicin- 
ity. Leases for quarter- acre lots are given for a royalty 
of one-half, and bonuses ranging from five hundred to 
three thousand dollars, the lessees engaging to actually 
sink one well. 

Fee Well, Wo. One. — Near Yankee. Flows thirty bar- 
rels per day. JVo. Two. — Been running about seven 
months. Averaged fifteen or sixteen barrels per day till 
two weeks before visit, when got in an improved valve, 
and now yields twenty barrels. 

Coleoy Well. — In operation Rye months. Average 



156 Statistics of Production. 

yield, by pumping, fifteen barrels per day. Seed-bag 
burst and had to stop for repairs. 

Remmington or Griming en Well, No. Eleven. — 
Started six months ago. Pumps about fifty barrels per 
day. Yield said to be on the increase. 

Bradley Well, No. One. — Been going nearly eight 
months. Now averages ten barrels per day. Has been 
reported as a forty-barrel well. 

Bradley Well, No. Two, — Yields about eight barrels 
daily. Opened since No. One. 

Fauner Well. — In operation over a year. Average 
yield, twenty -five barrels per day, partly flowing. 

Hicks Well. — New and testing. Good appearance of 
oil. 

Mallory Well. — Six months in operation. Yield about 
twenty barrels per day. Flows occasionally. Outsiders 
give the actual yield at fifteen barrels. Was not yielding 
any, when visited. 

In the bottom it has been customary to sink the wells 
about six hundred feet, and a proportionally greater depth, 
if higher up. As the stream has a rapid descent, this 
would bring the bottom of the Cherry Run basin about 
on a level with that of Oil Creek near Rouseville, where 
the wells average five hundred and fifty feet. The won- 
drous results obtained on the lower part of Cherry Run 
have led to most extensive operations all up to its head- 
waters. In six miles, the number of new derricks erect- 
ed is at least three hundred. For half a mile above the 
mouth of that run, at the time of visiting, most of the 
works were idle — at least five out of every six — having 
been damaged by the flood or given out altogether. But 
the owners appeared to regard this comparative stagnation 






Statistics of Production. 157 

with indifference, provided the sixth well turned out 
handsomely. Further developments in and around 
Plumer will be looked for with great interest. Grouping 
together all the works actually tested in that valley, I es- 
timate the profitable concerns at between thirty and forty 
per cent of the whole. The term "profitable" means 
that they return to their owner the actual outlay for sink- 
ing and management, interest on the capital, and the pur- 
chase-price of land at moderate (not speculative) values. 

PITHOLE CREEK 

is a tributary of the Alleghany, which it enters from the 
north-west, at a point about twelve miles above Oil City, 
after a course of as many miles. About half-way up, it 
parts into two branches, known as Big and Little Pithole, 
the latter rising on the elevated table-lands near the source 
of Cherry Eun. The stream is small, and has a rapid de- 
scent. Except at its ruouth, the works on which will be 
noticed under the head of the Alleghany Eiver valley, 
the developments on Pithole have been quite recent, the 
first well having struck oil in January. The route usu- 
ally taken to that section is through Eouseville and 
Plumer. 

On Little Pithole, at the time of my visit, I was assured 
that a flowing well of over one hundred barrels per day 
had just been struck, a mile or two from the turnpike. 
It was out of my power to visit the work, and I give the 
statement (made by a mechanic) for what it is worth. 
Extensive preparations are making to sink wells on that 
stream. About forty derricks had already made their 
appearance, and large numbers of others were under- 
stood to have been contracted for. The Excelsior (New- 



158 Statistics of Production. 

York) Company, it was stated, would sink fifty wells the 
present season. Eiddle, Miller & Company had several 
on the way. 

Along the head- waters of Big Pithole the same activity 
was manifest. One company had contracted to put down 
twenty-five wells on a single farm, this summer, such be- 
ing one of the conditions of sale. The purchaser of land 
in the bottom was considered lucky, if he secured it at 
two thousand dollars per acre. At that place it would 
probably be necessary to sink seven hundred feet before 
reaching the oil-bearing rock. One well on the Dawson 
farm had reached a depth of five hundred and twenty 
feet, without any appearance. Along the principal roads, 
nearly one-half of the lands had been cultivated before 
the oil excitement. 

Oopeland Well. — Was struck on the eighth of April, 
at a depth of six hundred and forty-seven feet. Flowed 
sixty barrels a day at first ; but defect in tubing discov- 
ered, and this had to be done over again. Working at 
this, when visited the well. Is certainly productive ; but 
had not been going long enough to ascertain its actual 
yield. Belongs to United States Petroleum Company. 

Lincoln Well.— On same farm and about six miles 
from mouth of stream. Depth, six hundred and forty- 
five feet. Yields twenty-five barrels per day, partly by 
flowing. Had reached the fourth sand-rock, (of course.) 
Another well in progress on same premises. 

Frazier Well. — The making of Pithole, situated on the 
Holmden farm, nearly a mile below the last-named. Oil 
struck in the early part of January last, the flow being 
two hundred and twenty-five barrels per day at first. It 
is now rated at two hundred and thirty. Tanks have a 



Statistics of Production. 159 

capacity of eight thousand two hundred barrels, and were 
nearly full at time of visit. Learned that earlier in the 
season quantities had been taken off on sleighs. Just 
opening a wagon-road to the works. How lately the 
yield was tested I did not learn. The flow is continuous 
and uniform, with little water, being about one tenth the 
capacity of a two -inch tube. Belongs to the United 
States Petroleum Company of New- York. 

Another flowing well has since been reported to have 
been struck on the creek, close by the Holmden farm. 
Eumor gives its product at one hundred and fifty and 
even two hundred barrels per day ; but these figures are 
probably exaggerated. 

The United States Petroleum Company are putting 
down six other wells on their tract at Pithole, besides 
three or four others elsewhere. According to appear- 
ances, one hundred new wells will be sunk in that valley 
the present season. 

Near Wood's mill one was reported to have got a good 
show of oil, at the depth of seven hundred feet. That 
locality is about two miles below the Frazier well. 

FRENCH CREEK. 

This is probably the largest tributary received by the 
Alleghany, the creek being one hundred and fifty miles 
long, and one hundred yards broad at its mouth. Its 
general course is from north-west to south-east, corre- 
sponding with that of the Alleghany for fifty miles below 
Franklin. The stream is less sinuous than some others, 
while the valley is wider than most of the bottoms. 

Boring for oil has extended to a point above the village 
of Utica, or ten miles from Franklin. The numerous 



160 Statistics of Production. 

transfers of land and current reports would indicate that 
before long openings will be made higher up-stream. On 
the tributaries of French Creek it is also probable that 
a considerable movement will take place before long. 

In regard to the quantity, the quality, and the situation 
where oil is obtained, French Creek differs widely from 
Oil Creek and its tributaries. To notice them in order: 

First. The quality is not the common illuminating oil, 
with a gravity of fifty or sixty degrees ; but lubricating 
oil of nearly the best kind, its gravity being thirty to 
thirty-two ; while the finest Mecca is twenty-eight de- 
grees. Consequently it commands a much higher price 
than any other ; while there is far less fluctuation in its 
market value. "With the common variety in its crude 
state, ranging from three to twelve dollars per barrel, 
French Creek oil is ordinarily between twenty and twen- 
ty-five dollars. Yet the charges for transportation, and 
the internal revenue duties on both are alike. The 
French Creek kind has the additional advantage of being 
susceptible of use without any outlay or loss for refining, 
except when it is to be applied to delicate machinery. 

Second. In quantity it also differs. For while several 
wells on Oil Creek and its tributaries have yielded from 
one hundred to three thousand barrels per day, the best 
on French' Creek or (its tributary) Sugar Creek, has fallen 
below fifty barrels, while the average yield of profitable 
wells has not reached five barrels for a whole year. There 
is quite as large a proportion of idle and abandoned 
works along French Creek as anywhere else. 

Third. The situation in which petroleum is obtained 
on French Creek is higher up geologically than else- 
where. Against wells which have to be sunk five hun- 



Statistics of Production. 161 

dred or six hundred feet aloDg Oil Creek and Cherry Run, 
it is not customary to sink to a lower depth than three 
hundred, above Franklin. The second sand-rock there is 
reached at half the cost required to enter the third at five 
hundred feet. The only experiment that I heard of where 
oil had been obtained from the third sand-rock on French 
Creek, in paying quantities, resulted in bringing up 
the common article, not the kind got in the higher veins. 
This was at the depth of seven hundred feet, the increased 
distance arising from the general dip of all the rocks to- 
ward the south-west. 

Fourth. The people of French Creek allege that they 
have one other advantage over their neighbors further 
north, in that the proportion of wells actually paying ex- 
penses is larger there than elsewhere. They claim that a 
majority of all those put down have repaid both the ori- 
ginal outlay and the cost of management. Some even 
put the ratio of profitable works as high as six or seven 
out of every ten. My belief is, after making due inquiry, 
that both these figures are a good deal too high, and that 
three or four out of ten would be much nearer the mark. 
This is certainly a liberal enough estimate. It is true that 
the receipts for one barrel per day will cover all running 
expenses ; while a second barrel, if contributed for only 
twelve months, will return the principal invested and 
a liberal interest. Still, it must be borne in mind that 
not one well in a hundred keeps up its accustomed yield 
day after day for a whole year, interruptions of various 
kinds happening frequently at the best seasons. 

But with fewer first-class prizes to offer than other local- 
ities, though there might be as much diminished risk, it 
has come to pass that French Creek has drawn to itself 






162 Statistics of Production. 

comparatively little attention ; and the number of new as 
well as old works may be reckoned in tens, instead of 
hundreds. The price of lands varies from one thousand 
dollars per acre, near Franklin, to one hundred dollars, 
near the sources of Sugar Creek. The plough and the 
hoe are not yet relics of a past age along these valleys. 
( In going down the railroad from Meadville to Franklin, 
the visitor passes seven idle or unfinished wells before 
reaching the first in operation, namely : 

Henrietta Well. — Present yield, three barrels per day. 
Been nearly three years in operation. Flowed for a time. 
Belongs to a Philadelphia interest. 

Of the next nine wells six are in progress. One has 
been entirely abandoned, the machinery being removed. 
One was stopped by the flood, after going two years. It 
was yielding two barrels per day at the time. The last 
gave three barrels daily ; but complaint was made of the 
engine as being too weak. The tank had also been 
washed away. All standing idle. 

The next half-dozen works consist of two abandoned 
wells and four in progress. Following these, we have four 
belonging to the French Creek Lubricating- Oil Company, 
described as follows : No. One gave two barrels per day 
for five months, but was stopped by the freshet. No. Two 
gave a very small quantity. No. Three is an old well, 
having been in operation four years. Was yielding five 
barrels per day before freshet. No. Four was working its 
way downward in search of the third sand-rock, but at 
the depth of six hundred and fifty feet had not found it. 

One well (proprietors unknown) was in operation, and 
said to be giving three barrels per day. 

The Pierson Oil Company of Philadelphia own five 



Statistics of Production. 163 

wells. No. One yielded in all about twenty-five barrels, 
several years since. Now idle. No. Two gives one bar- 
rel per day, against four barrels, its former product. None 
of the others is doing as well as No. Two. 

The McCormick and McKissock Wells are on the south 
side of the creek. No. One, very old concern, and report- 
ed to pump about one barrel per day. No. Two is new 
and pumps about same quantity in three hours, resting 
other twenty-one. No. Three in progress. 

Neidler Well. — Flowed about twelve barrels a day for 
eight weeks, and subsided. 

Another well (name unknown) pumps four barrels a 
day. Used to give six. Been in operation nearly two years. 

Immediately above Franklin are nearly a dozen works 
in progress, and half as many idle or abandoned. Of these, 
some are reported to have yielded three or four barrels a 
day, and probably repaid their cost. Between Utica and 
Franklin there- was no bridge, and my examination was 
confined to the north side of the creek. On the opposite 
bank, however, it was too plain that four-fifths of the 
works had been doing nothing for some time. That por- 
tion of this chapter relating to details along French Creek 
will be found less full and satisfactory than I could desire. 

The Dale Oil Works is the name of a neat refinery about 
one mile above Franklin, on the north side of French 
Creek. Went into operation in the autumn of 1864. Num- 
ber of stills, two ; capacity of works, three hundred and 

fifty barrels per week. 
/■ 

SUGAR CREEK 

is a tributary of French Creek, into which it enters from 
the north. It is too large a stream to be easily forded, 



164 Statistics of Production. 

and the bridge near its mouth, had been swept away by 
the flood, so that crossing on foot had to be performed by 
means of trees thrown down in wild-cat fashion. This 
stream also parts in twain, the forks taking their rise in 
the plateau beyond Corry. Between the mouth of Sugar 
Creek and Coopertown — five and a half miles — about 
twenty-five derricks are already up or rising, but at these 
only one well has been thoroughly tested. It is two miles 
up-stream, and has yielded as much as thirty-five barrels 
a day for a month in succession ; but through derange- 
ments to the machinery, it is supposed the last month's 
average did not exceed fifteen barrels. The well was 
struck about January last. The article is best quality of 
lubricating oil, of thirty-two gravity. The effect of this 
fine strike has been to enhance largely the price of real 
estate along the valley. One farmer, close by, refused an 
offer of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for eighty 
acres, about half-bottom lands. A report, since my visit, 
is spread that a new well has been struck close by, and 
this is impelling a wave of speculation into that secluded 
and pleasant neighborhood. It is reported that lands are 
changing ownership as far as ten miles up. Probably one 
hundred new wells will be opened on that creek before 
the close of 1865 ; a number of old ones will also be bur- 
nished up anew or sunk deeper. 

FKANKLIN". 

The wells in Franklin have all the characteristics of 
those on French Creek. Only a few of them are now in 
operation, but the greater number would appear to have 
paid for themselves, and a few handsomely. 

Lamoertorts Well has been in operation nearly four 



Statistics of Production. 165 

years. Yields three and a half to four barrels per day. 
Owned by Chicago and Alleghany Oil Company. 

IngalVs Well, (Caledonian.) — Idle at present. Yielded 
three to three and a half barrels a day, when stopped. 

Star Well. — Yielded about same quantity. Operated 
about one year after opening in 1860. Stopped. Leased 
to another party, but with no good result. 

Cairns'' Well. — JSTothing done for two years, but test- 
ing with a view to resuming operations. Sunk' in 1859. 

Coojper Well. — Old concern also. Owned by a company 
in Franklin. At one time pumped three to four barrels 
per day. 

Dale Well. — Another of the ancients. Grave two to 
three barrels per day for a while. Upper works carried 
away by freshet. 

Mammoth Well. — At first flowed eleven barrels per 
day, but fell down to four. Been idle for some time be- 
fore flood, when its works were carried off. 

Evans Well. — Belongs to Moseley & Company, new 
owners. At first, yielded forty barrels a day, which turn- 
ed the head of one fair damsel. Yield has since declined 
to five barrels. In 1861, operations were suspended, and 
the well remained idle until last winter. 

Brooynstick Wells. — Belong to Forest Shade Oil Com- 
pany of Philadelphia. Two in number. Are about four 
years old, and yield four to five barrels a day each. 

Bonnell Well. — Leased by Moseley & Company. Old 
concern. Deepened, abandoned, recommenced, and now 
deepening a second time. Indications pronounced good. 

Besides these are about half a dozen old concerns thrown 
up, whose history and production could not be ascertained. 
Most of the wells put down during the early stages of the 



166 Statistics of Production. 

oil-fever are in the upper part of the borough. At the 
lower extremity are several new ones, of which particulars 
may be found elsewhere. 

THE ALLEGHANY, BELOW FRANKLIN, EAST SIDE. 

My examination of the Lower Alleghany valley ex- 
tended to East-Sandy Creek, and some distance up and 
beyond it. The following summary of wells on the east 
side of the river will be interesting : Abandoned, eight ; 
idle, temporarily, twenty-four ; active, thirteen ; in prog- 
ress, as many by the river, and (probably) fifty more on 
Two-Mile Eun and East-Sandy. Beyond the mouth of 
East-Sandy, I could not learn that there was more than 
one well in operation which yielded oil in paying quan- 
tity. Both old and new derricks, however, may be seen 
for some distance further. On both sides, the river-banks 
are steep, lofty, and close to the Alleghany. 

The quality obtained is first-class illuminating-oil, the 
lubricating kind not " cropping out" below Franklin ; 
though it does for a short distance above, along the great 
river. Crossing on the fine suspension-bridge, we first 
find— 

John H. Lee's Well. — Opened in March, about four 
weeks before visit. Flowed at first over two hundred bar- 
rels per day, but this gradually subsided, and owner took 
to pumping. Present yield, twenty barrels daily, working 
twelve hours, Was idle at the time for lack of facilities to 
carry off the oil. Tank filled. Depth of well, four hun- 
dred and forty-eight feet. 

On some wells close by the Lee, preparations for an 
active campaign are going forward, with fair prospects in 
some. Along the bottoms, for some distance beyond, are 



Statistics of Production. 167 

numerous wrecks and other " indications" of damage by 
the great freshet. One well has been rilled up with mud 
and is useless. One has tools fast in bottom, after pump- 
ing twenty-five barrels per day for a time. 

Two- Mile B, un— Judging from appearances at its low- 
er end and the reports of others, I estimate the total 
number of wells in progress on this stream at twenty or 
twenty-five, of which only one has been tested. Said to 
yield three or four barrels per day, and on the increase. 

Mem. — This brook must not be confounded with a Two- 
Mile Run which enters the Alleghany the same distance 
above Franklin, and from the opposite side. 

Keystone Well. — On Cochrane farm. Put down about 
two years ago. At first yielded about seventy barrels per 
day, but gradually fell off to twelve, when the floods came 
and the winds blew and beat upon that well and filled 
it up. 

Williams and Mayer Well. — In operation. Has pump- 
ed six to eight barrels per day for a short time. 

Dale and Morroio Wells. — Two in number. Pump 
about thirteen barrels per day in all. One has been going 
two years ; the other eight or nine months. Proprietors 
sinking others along the bluff. 

Painter Well. — In operation five weeks. Yields two 
barrels per day — never more than three. Has passed as a 
fifteen-barrel well. 

Pennsylvania Oil Company's Wells. — Four in number. 
Two have yielded three or four barrels each ; the others 
not yet tested. 

Alleghany and East-Sandy Oil Company's Wells. — 
Two old concerns, sinking deeper. 

Island Well. — Said to be giving from twelve to fifteen 



168 Statistics of Production. 

barrels per day. I credit the estimate as not beyond the 
mark. 

Robertson Mining and Oil Company's Wells. — No. One 
yields eight to nine barrels per day. Four others give 
average of one barrel per day each. No. Two gives two 
barrels. Aggregate yield, when going, about fifteen bar- 
rels. For lack of fuel, all were standing idle. Plenty of 
cord-wood close by. Some of these wells belong to the 
early period. 

Greenhill Oil Company's Wells. — Three in number. 
Two of them new. Old one yields one to one and a half 
barrels per day. Others not thoroughly tested, but one 
promises fairly. All pumped " by head" — two or three 
hours per day. Depth, about four hundred and forty feet, 
but to be sunk deeper. General depth on Lower Alle- 
ghany, from five hundred to five hundred and fifty feet. 

Sunbury {or Sonsberry) Oil Company. — Five wells 
sunk, and one in progress. No. One, sold lately as an 
eight-barrel well, yields one to one and a half. Prospect 
well gives three barrels. Smoky City, three barrels ; Heid- 
elberg, eight to ten, but now idle ; Kendrick weU, prob- 
ably ten. The last at one time yielded one hundred bar- 
rels daily. All have been two or three years in operation. 
Not pumped steadily. 

Mem. — One of those wells, formerly known as the Blake- 
ley, was lately sold for twenty thousand dollars, as an eight- 
barrel well, the average yield being about one ! 

Crozier Oil Company's Well. — Idle, tools having stuck 
fast. Pumped oil, but not in paying quantity. Depth, 
six hundred and fifteen feet. Talk of going still further 
down. 

Hope Well. — Belongs to Superior Oil Company of Pitts- 



Statistics of Production. 169 

burgh. Sunk in 1861, and deepened last year to nearly 
eight hundred feet. Yield estimated at four barrels per 
day, before the flood. Filled up with mud. Well to be 
re-reamed and widened. 

Porter Farm Oil Company's Wells. — Morris well 
abandoned. Engine said to have blown up after testing. 
Probably remains idle because the spring did not blow up. 
Yielded oil, but quantity unknown. No. Four testing, 
with good show, at depth of three hundred and fifteen feet. 
Another stopped up and wrecked by freshet. Another 
sunk over six hundred feet. Obtained oil, but in insuf- 
ficient quantity, and tunnel to be extended toward "China." 

East-Sandy Creek. — Enters Alleghany Eiver from 
east side, six miles below Franklin. Current quite violent, 
and stream one hundred feet wide at its mouth. Bridge 
swept away, and " Charon" charges ten cents for ferrying 
across. Two wells tested on the lower three miles of its 
course, namely : 

Adamantine Oil Company's Well, JVo. Two. — Sunk 
four hundred and fifteen feet, when tools got fast. 

Soft Maple Well. — Owned by same company. Depth, 
four hundred and twenty-seven feet. Has been two months 
in operation. At first, pumped one hundred and fifty bar- 
rels per day ; now gives eighteen barrels, and keeping 
steady. Tubing said to be somewhat out of order. 

Keystone Well. — About three miles up creek. Yields 
one barrel per day, but quantity reported at four or five. 
Facts learned from a source deemed trustworthy. 

One well on East-Sandy has been sunk eight hundred 
and fifty feet, without finding oil, except a small show at 
the depth of three hundred and forty feet. From fifteen 
to twenty are in progress on the creek. 
8 



170 Statistics of Production. 

One well, lower down tbe Alleghany, on same side, sunk 
six hundred and twenty-eight feet, yields eight barrels 
per day. Formerly owned by Iron City Oil Company. 
Present owner's name unknown to my informant. 

LOWER ALLEGHANY — WEST SIDE. 

Starting from the mouth of West-Sandy Creek, we have, 
on the Miller farm, two wells pumping about four barrels 
each. Two others going down. On the Foster farm no 
wells producing oil. Three in progress. 

Excelsior {N. Y.) Oil Company's Wells. — Situated on 
the D. Smith farm. Three fully tested and one sinking. 
No. One pumps six to eight barrels per day. Another 
gives three to five barrels, with average of four. A third 
was yielding ten barrels before, in making repairs, the 
tools stuck fast. Is not now paying expenses. A fourth 
in progress. 

Hiibbs Well. — Now idle. Sold as a sixteen-barrel well 
last fall. Yielded about twelve barrels, when stopped. 

Mem. — Many of the wells below Franklin were sunk 
in 1860 and abandoned afterward, when oil sunk in price 
to an unremunerative point. 

Excelsior {Philadelphia) Oil Company' ] s Wells. — Two 
in number. One yields two or three barrels daily. The 
other is in progress. 

Overton Oil Company's Wells. — Two, both leased from 
Excelsior Company. One yields two and a half barrels 
daily ; other re-tubing. Is known as the Childs well. 
Used to give five or six barrels. Depth, four hundred and 
sixty-seven feet. Been in operation four years. A third 
well in progress. 

Steppy Farm WeU.— Put down in 1859. Yields one 



Statistics of Production. 171 

and a half barrels per day. Flows a little at times. Has 
not been regularly operated lately. 

Mem. — Two wells in progress ; one, belonging to a 
Pittsburgh interest, with good show at five hundred and 
eighty feet. Three others sunk and now idle. One gave 
about a barrel daily. Others had yielded oil, but were 
thrown up. One was sunk only two hundred feet. Be- 
long to Pope Farm Oil Company. 

Organic Oil Company's Wells. — Two in number, each 
pumped two years, " by head," about one barrel per day. 
Both idle. Depth, five hundred and six hundred feet. 

Thompson Well. — Owned by Pope Farm Oil Company. 
Depth, five hundred and forty feet. Opened four years 
since, but never tubed till last fall. Pumped for a time 
ten barrels, but has fallen off to six barrels in twenty-four 
hours. 

Ravine Well. — Also on Pope farm. Sunk in 1860. 
Depth, four hundred and fifty feet. Before stopping, yield- 
ed about five barrels per day. Has not been running for 
some time. 

JBlaTceley Oil Company's Wells. — Two in number. Both 
in progress. One is sunk four hundred and fifty feet. 

Dr. Pancostfs Well. — Now idle. Produced six barrels 
per day some time since. 

Harvey Evans's Well. — On Hoover farm. Gave three 
barrels per day before stopping, last winter. 

Passed five works. One wrecked by flood. One tested, 
but gave nothing. Others untested. 

James Grahame's Well. — Damaged by flood. Flowed 
three barrels per day at one time ; now, one and a half. 
Above this are four wells in progress. 

Dixie Well. — Pumps six barrels per day. Used to 



172 /Statistics of Production. 

give ten. Four years old, and seven hundred feet deep. 
Most of the oil got at four hundred and thirty feet, in the 
second rock. 

Apollo Well. — Kunning four years, and four hundred 
and forty feet deep. Stopped from 1862 till last year. 
At first gave twenty-five barrels per day, but declined to 
zero. Ee-tubed, and lately yielding ten barrels. When 
visited, was idle for lack of fuel. Four wells in progress 
immediately above. 

Buyer Oil Company's Well. — Pumps two barrels per 
day by head. Depth, five hundred and fifty feet. Sunk 
in 1864. Never yielded much. Been rather improved 
by re-tubing. 

Hoover and Marshal Well. — Depth, four hundred and 
fifty feet. Four or five years old. At first gave twenty- 
five barrels per day. Now pumps from eight to fifteen, 
with average about twelve. 

Catfish Well. — Is pumped by head, (a few hours daily.) 
Actual yield, four and a half barrels per day. In opera- 
tion nearly two years. Depth, four hundred and forty 
feet. At first, gave eighty barrels. One other well in prog- 
ress on lot. 

Bhinehardt Well. — Sunk nearly three years since. 
Gave two hundred barrels per day at first. Lately pumped 
twenty-five barrels. Now re-tubing. Has been most 
productive on that side of river below Franklin. 

Hoover and Marshal Well, JVo. — . — Pumps about 
twenty barrels per day. Another, belonging to same 
company, idle, having lost tools in bottom. Did yield 
oil, but statistics unknown. 

Mem. — Every well tested on the Hoover farm is said to 



Statistics of Production. 173 

have yielded some petroleum. The present owners charge 
a royalty of one-half the oil from lessees. 

Hemlock Well. — On Lee farm. Gave twenty barrels 
per day at first ; pumped two or three barrels lately. Out 
of order. Mem. — On the lower part of this farm are three 
idle wells, one apparently thrown up. 

Old Lee Well, and another adjoining it, belong to a 
Boston company. Both productive, but idle, undergoing 
repairs. Former rated at twenty-five, latter at seven bar- 
rels per day, when in operation. 

Suffolk and Venango County Company's Wells. — Two 
in number. Can be made to yield fifty barrels per day, 
when in proper order. Estimate somewhat vague. Learn 
that actual yield of one has been twelve to fourteen bar- 
rels ; of the other, five to seven barrels daily. 

Honeycomb Company's Well. — Also on Lee farm. 
Flowing thirty-five to sixty barrels a day. Average be- 
lieved to be nearly forty. Six months in operation. 
Keeps steadily up in yield. Depth, four hundred and 
fifty-five feet. 

Wallace's Well. — Upper works swept away. Was 
yielding seven barrels daily before the flood. 

Sjprogel & Co.'s Well. — Depth, four hundred and fifty 
feet. Average yield for year, fiye barrels per day. Is 
eighteen months old, and now known as Alleghany Com- 
pany No. Two well. 

Alleghany Company's Well, No. One. — A two-barrel 
concern. In operation over two years. 

Westminster Well. — A one-barrel spring. Six months 
in operation. Two others were sinking. Both damaged 
by flood and now idle. 

Eureka Well. — On Morrison farm, a short distance be- 



174 Statistics of Production. 

low Franklin. Old work re-reamed. Preparing to start 
anew. 

Passed three wells idle and seemingly abandoned. 
Two of them yielded about three barrels a day each ; the 
other, nothing. Three other wells in progress. 

Thomas Well. — Bought as a thirty -barrel concern. 
Keport of its having been fed from a tank on the sly pro- 
nounced false. Pumps about two barrels per day. An 
old work, and never of much account. 

Passed six more wells sinking, and entered Franklin. 
The journey altogether the roughest and toughest I had 
then undertaken. The river was high, and no road ex- 
isted save a goat's path between the precipice and the 
flood. So it is likely to continue. 

ALLEGHANY EIVER — FRANKLIN TO OIL CITY. 

The distance between those points has been increased a 
full mile by the destruction of the lower bridge across 
French Creek. On the lower end of this creek, passed 
seven wells in progress, two abandoned, and one wrecked. 

Stock Well.— On the Alleghany. Pumps seven barrels 
per day best quality lubricating oil. Gravity said to be 
twenty-eight. Depth, two hundred and seventy-five feet. 

Martin Well. — Pumps five barrels per day of same 
quality and at same depth. Both wells over four years in 
operation. 

Passed two wells, said to have been abandoned when 
oil was low, though yielding tolerably. Leases expired, 
and property reverted to owner — a matter of quite fre- 
quent occurrence under the old dispensation. Counted 
eleven more works, with or without derricks, all seemingly 
given up. 



Statistics of Production. 175 

Enterprise Oil Company's Wells. — A Pittsburgh inter- 
est. Before tha flood, No. One was yielding five barrels 
per day. No. Two, about four barrels. Both seriously 
damaged, but preparing to resume. Three or four years 
in operation. 

Plumer Refinery. — Belongs to a New- York interest. 
Expected to go into operation shortly. One well on 
premises idle. Some others to be put down. 

United Farm Company. — Own large tract of bottom- 
land below the mouth of Two -Mile Eun, above Franklin 
and on west side of river. Have leased lots to several in- 
terests. Twelve new derricks already erected this season, 
and about thirty new wells expected to be sunk. Flat 
greatly damaged by freshet, and all the old works sus- 
pended. It is said that none of these were .fairly tested ; 
hence the yield was unsatisfactory. 

On Two-Mile Run. — One old well bored out again 
with fine appearance, as reported. On that little stream, 
one hundred wells supposed to be sunk or sinking. Such 
estimates are usually exaggerated one-half, by mistake. 

Powell Oil and Coal Company. — Own six wells in 
progress on Shirk farm. Most of these bored three or 
four years ago^ but now deepening. In some, a good 
show reported. 

Frankford Oil Company's Wells. — Three in number. 
Two idle ; one pumps average of sixty barrels per day. 
Opened on first of March. Is situated about midway be- 
tween Franklin and Oil City ; and if the figures only keep 
on thus, will make princely fortunes. Another well, be- 
longing to same company, drips one barrel per day. 
Upper works of a third were swept away. Discharge 
from the big well is equal to a stream of two hundred bar- 



176 Statistics of Production. 

rels per day ; but when visited, nine tenths of it seemed 
to be water. "Workmen say, at times it is nearly pure 
petroleum. No regularity of flow. Depth, five hundred 
and thirty feet. 

Pemhrohe Oil Company' ] s Wells, JVo. One. — Yields 
about five barrels per day. Been keeping up to that figure 
two years. Depth, three hundred and eighty feet. Com- 
pany have four more under way — one tested, but not pro- 
ducing oil. 

Within the space of a mile above these occur seven 
wells, four of them wrecked, one standing idle, one in 
progress, one just tested and said to be producing. 

At Beno Station, on the railroad, are three refineries — 
E. W. Shippen's, Kincaid, Lock wood & Co.'s, and "Ward 
& Lockwood's. The largest has four stills and a capa- 
city of two hundred and seventy barrels per week. One 
has abandoned the refining of illuminating oil as un- 
profitable, and taken to the lubricating kind only. 

Howe <& Eddy Oil Company's Wells. — Three owned 
and three leased. Only one going, with average yield of 
two barrels per day. Another pumped three barrels 
before freshet. 

Kifer Elliott Well. — Just opened. Appearance and 
prospect considered good. Pumped at rate of twenty bar- 
rels per day for short time. Depth, four hundred and ten 
feet. 

Between that point and the outskirts of Oil City — about 
a mile — counted twenty-two wells, only four of which 
were going or testing. Eight were idle and ten sinking. 
None of those yielding gave over three barrels per day. 
On the opposite side of the yiver, between Oil City and 
Franklin observed about forty derricks, of which nearly 



Statistics of Production. 177 

one-half had been recently erected. Wells unfinished, 
and at many no progress. Only three or four were actu- 
ally producing oil. Statistics not learned, but never 
heard that section of Petrolia referred to as having aught 
worth visiting. No regular means of crossing. 

OIL CITY. 

Chris Kringle Well. — Going since last Christmas, 
when yield was thirty barrels per day. Now pumps 
twenty barrels, according to official estimate. When vis- 
ited, was discharging gas copiously, but no oil. Some 
good wells are in the habit of indulging in such pranks 
before strangers. Depth, five hundred and fifty-five feet. 

Oil City Petroleum Refinery. — Capacity of works no- 
ticed elsewhere. Company have two wells in progress. 
Another refinery stands close by. 

Harper Farm Well. — Pumped eight or nine barrels per 
day for past week. Old concern, deepened to five hun- 
dred feet. 

Sweeney Well. — Official report of yield, twenty barrels 
per day. Others say from eight to ten. I incline to the 
latter estimate. An old well, deepened to five hundred 
and forty feet. Been three months at work since reopen- 
ing. 

Shirk Well. — Tested only a few days. Flowed at first 
thirty-six barrels per day. Since the flood, average yield 
not above ten or twelve, got by pumping. 

Old Glyde Well. — Belongs to Harper Farm Company. 
Been going two years, and now yields three barrels per 
day. 

Linden Well. — Noted as a flowing well. Until recent- 
8* 



178 Statistics of Production. 

ly, yielded ten barrels per day. Ke-tubing at time of 
visit. 

Glycle Well, No. 1. — New concern. Pumped five bar- 
rels first half day. Appearance good. 

In that part of Oil City below the creek, are about thirty 
wells in progress, some in the ravine between the heights, 
but the greater number between the street and the river. 
Two or three old works are also being deepened and 
burnished up anew. 

THE ALLEGHANY VALLEY — ABOVE OIL CITY. 

My explorations of that part of the Alleghany valley 
between Oil City and Irvine (fifty miles) were conducted 
partly on foot, partly by skiff or raft, and the residue by 
steamer. Among the several modes of conveyance in 
Petrolia, I feel it my duty to characterize the steamer 
" Advance," as furnishing the most costly and uncomfort- 
able. In charging as fare three dollars for twenty miles j 
in dirt, discomfort, package, discourtesy, noise, to say 
nothing of indigestible viands, it may suffice to say that 
all was of a piece. Even the time lost in waiting till the 
wind lowered, ( ! ) and afterward at landings, was such, 
that the whole distance could have been easily walked in 
the same time. 

On the line of Spring Creek, and on that of the Broken- 
straw, into which the former discharges, there is little 
doing in searching for petroleum, the number of derricks 
visible from the railroad being barely half a dozen, be- 
tween Corry and Irvine. The proprietor of the flats at 
Irvine is said to have set his face fixedly against any dese- 
cration of them by boring for oil ; hence the derrick does 
not obtrude its gaunt visage thereabouts. It is only on ap- 



Statistics of Production. 179 

proaching the village of Tideoute, fourteen miles clown 
the Alleghany, that the stranger finds himself once more 
within Petrolia. The principal works there are the — 

Economy Wells. — These belong to an association of 
Christians known as Eappists or Communists, established 
on the common-property principle, which distinguished 
the apostolic church in Jerusalem. More than half a 
century ago, a society of Germans migrated to the United 
States, and founded the village of Economy on the Ohio 
Eiver, a short distance below Pittsburgh. Subsequently 
they removed to the "Wabash valley ; but returned to their 
old settlement on the Ohio, where they still remain, own- 
ing property, the value of which has been estimated at 
the round sum of ten millions of dollars ! The most ob- 
jectionable feature in this association is the enforcement 
of the practice of celibacy, as practised by the Shakers. 
Still, its ranks are recruited from the outside world, until 
its membership counts by hundreds. 

The way this society came to be concerned in petroleum 
operations was this : They had lent money to a farmer liv- 
ing near Tideoute, who failed to fulfil his obligation of 
payment ; and his property consequently passed into the 
creditors' possession. About that time the developments 
on Oil Creek began to attract attention ; and as springs of 
petroleum had been found at the surface on their proper- 
ty, the society decided to put down a well for themselves. 
In 1861 the first was sunk, and a fine quality of illumin- 
ating oil struck, at the depth of one hundred and thirty- 
five feet. This received the appellation of the " A well," 
which is still pumping five barrels per day, (twenty-four 
hours,) besides supplying gas sufficient to keep two engines 
running. " B well " gave feeble indications at first ; but 



180 Statistics of Production. 

gradually improved, and now pumps from thirty to thirty- 
five barrels per day. " C " produces about fifteen barrels 
in the same time, and " D," from fifteen to twenty barrels. 
In none of the last three has there been lately any per- 
ceptible increase or decrease. None of them has been 
sunk over one hundred and forty-five feet, which makes 
such a copious and continuous yield the more remarkable. 

At one time, the society leased the property, under con- 
ditions deemed favorable, to the former proprietor, who, 
according to outside reports, held his grip upon it till the 
society came down with an immense sum to recover posses- 
sion, while the works went to wreck. New derricks, en- 
gines, etc., have since been erected, together with an excel- 
lent boarding-house, whose arrangements are unquestiona- 
bly the best in all Petrolia. The restrictions placed upon 
employes, however, in regard to speech and manners, have 
made the proprietors somewhat unpopular as employers ; 
and many prefer to seek employment where they "can 
blow off steam," without meeting a printed rule or other 
restriction upon their language or demeanor. 

The lands belonging to this association on the Alle- 
ghany comprise eight thousand acres, extending back a 
long distance from the river, and having an extensive 
water-front. Much of this tract is covered with a heavy 
growth of timber, almost as valuable as petroleum these 
days. A saw-mill and a flouring-mill, driven by steam, 
have been erected on the uplands. A railroad is also in 
contemplation, to connect their various works along the 
river with a landing. Arrangements are in progress to 
put down ten or twelve new wells the present season, on 
spots where good indications are said to exist. 

For the information of the curious, it may be proper to 



Statistics of Production. 181 

add that no part of this property is either for sale or to 
let. Land speculators and persons engaged in getting up 
oil companies may, therefore, as well give it a wide berth 
in their searches after "first-class territory." 

Those who delight to trace every unusual event or phe- 
nomenon to " special providences " may here find profita- 
ble matter for reflection. "Why should the only good 
tract on that side of the river, along that part of its course, 
and one which has produced the most enduring springs 
in the country, have passed into the hands of an associa- 
tion having " all things common " ? 

Below the Economy wells are half a dozen idle works, 
most of which appear to have been thrown up altogether. 
One of them, known as the Eawlson well, belongs to a 
Philadelphia company, which had it sunk to the depth of 
one thousand feet, without finding any oil worth mention. 
Only one of the whole number is estimated to have paid 
expenses. The Waters & Jackson well ran seven or 
eight months, in 1861, and gave as many barrels per day. 
It is now idle. Three of them flowed for a few weeks at 
first. 

Hockenburgh Well. — Named after a clergyman in that 
neighborhood, who has written an essay on the all-ab- 
sorbing subject. Pumped about ten barrels per day for 
nine months, in 1861 ; then shut down. Now owned by 
the Tideoute Bayou Petroleum Company, of New- York, 
and yielding five or six barrels per day. 

G. I. Stowe Well.— Sank in 1860. Yield, four or five 
barrels per day till last September, since which has been 
idle. Depth, one hundred and forty feet. 

Moore, Blanche & Company's Well. — Pumped five or 
six barrels per day until lately. Now undergoing re- 
pairs. 



182 Statistics of Production. 

Towner & Thompson Well. — Pumps four to five bar- 
rels per day. Some alterations going on. Tried the 
blower, but unsuccessfully. 

About eight more wells, all idle, and as many others in 
progress, are on the east side of the Alleghany at Tide- 
oute. Above the village are also twelve or fifteen aban- 
doned works, not having been going for some years. 

On the opposite side, where the river impinges upon 
the bluff, counted sixteen new derricks, several of them 
perched at points from one hundred to two hundred feet 
up the precipice. Immediately beneath them are the fol- 
lowing : 

Moser Well. — Just resuscitated after a winter's rest. 
Yields six barrels per day. Sunk four or five years ago. 

Rawlson Well. — Pumps eight barrels per day. Over 
four years old. Depth, one hundred and fifty feet. 

Gilson Well. — Owned by Tompkins County and Tide- 
oute Oil Company. Pumps thirty barrels per day. Open- 
ed last Wednesday. Has increased in productiveness 
lately. Depth, one hundred and forty-six feet. 

Shaw Well. — Pumped, during winter, ten barrels per 
day, to best of informant's knowledge. Now stopped for 
repairs. This and four or five others to recommence 
shortly. About a dozen appear to be abandoned altoge- 
ther. 

The Tideoute and "Warren Oil Company own most of 
the lands in that part of the village or its suburbs. They 
grant leases of lots for fifty per cent of the oil. That 
locality is fast following the example of Oil City, as re- 
spects filth and disorder, the latter place being the unit of 
measurement for the whole region. 

Below Tideoute passed twelve or fifteen derricks, all 
old and inactive, until arriving at 



Statistics of Production. 183 



HICKOKY CREEKS. 

These are three in number, all entering the river with- 
in a distance of two miles. The highest up of these is 
East-Hickory, at the mouth of which is a good landing, 
with half a dozen wells in different stages of construction. 
One of them is reported to have reached the depth of 
four hundred and thirty feet, where a good show was 
lately had in the sand-pump. 

Little Hickory enters the* Alleghany from the same 
side. Five or six wells going down on the flat at its 
mouth ; but no definite result had been obtained at the 
time of visiting. 

West-Hickory enters nearly opposite to the last-named, 
and from the west side. All have dug their channels 
deeply into the bluffs ; but the only large bottom is near 
the . last-named. At the distance of barely half a mile 
from the river is 

Hickory Flat Well. — Oil recently struck at the depth 
of one hundred and ten feet. Came up so violently as to 
drive 'away the workmen. Has been flowing at the rate 
of one hundred and seventy barrels per day, or one hun- 
dred and ninety-six barrels in twenty-five hours, as ascer- 
tained by actual measurement. Oil said to be finest qual- 
ity lubricating with less than thirty degrees gravity. The 
flow is steady, and the stream refreshing to behold, ac- 
companied by gas in moderate qnantity. 

The success of this well has given a powerful impetus 
to similar enterprises in that part of Petrolia. Already 
much the larger portion of the land, for miles above and 
below, has changed ownership. One farm of four hun- 
dred acres was lately sold for one hundred and twenty- 



184 Statistics of Production. 

nine thousand dollars, which may be taken as a fair esti- 
mate of price, when sold in large quantities and near the 
river. It is said that a speculator recently cleared sixty- 
six thousand dollars by a single purchase. Natural oil- 
springs, Mr. Gr. A. Siggins assures me, had long before 
been observed thereabouts, and occasional rude efforts 
been made by the residents to reach them — in one case, 
by means of a drilling apparatus composed of a bed-cord 
and a harrow-pin ! The Indians had a reservation close 
by, which they inhabited until a few years ago. Con- 
tiguous to this well are aboriginal remains of various 
kinds. A large tree of a wood resembling oak (not petri- 
fied) was found at the depth of forty-nine feet below the 
surface, after drilling through a bed of solid rock. 

About half a dozen new wells, one of them productive, 
were under way along West-Hickory, at the time of visit- 
ing. Preparations were going forward for extended ope- 
rations during the summer, and that valley is now a 
favorite of those who are in search of new " territory?' 

At Dawson's crossing, lower down the Alleghany, two 
wells are in progress, one having reached the depth of 
two hundred feet. 

At Tionesta, an incipient village at the mouth of Tio- 
nesta Creek, and some twenty miles above Oil City, seven- 
teen derricks have been erected at or near the mouth of 
that stream. One well has been sunk to the depth of 
seven hundred feet, without finding oil. Two or three 
works on the opposite side, but with no better success as 
yet. 

Between Tionesta and Walnut Bend, fourteen miles, 
my inquiries were not so full as I could wish, having 
been made only at those points where the steamer stopped 



Statistics of Production. 185 

on her way down. The residue of the distance to Oil 
City I had previously traversed on foot. 

President is a new and growing village on the east 
side of the river, with a capacious hotel and store as the 
nucleus. About two dozen derricks stand on the gentle 
slope, with abundant room for more. Two thirds of these 
works are unfinished. One well only was pumping oil, 
at time of visit. Said to be yielding freely, but figures 
not obtainable. A passenger dubbed the smaller collec- 
tion of houses, etc., on the opposite shore, "Ffe-President. 
The next point of interest is the mouth of Pithole 
Creek, twelve miles above Oil City. 

Ewing Well. — Pumps fifteen barrels per day. Was 
lately bought as a twenty-barrel well by the Niagara 
Falls and Cherry Eun Oil Company. Been four years in 
operation, and yields steadily. Oil discharges in occa- 
sional spirts, not a constant stream. Depth, two hundred 
and ninety feet. Gravity, forty -four. 

About thirty wells have been sunk near the mouth of 
Pithole Creek, chiefly along the Alleghany. Of these, 
only one is now in operation. Owners are generally pre- 
paring to deepen them, or throw them up altogether. 
Taking both sides of the river and the works in prog- 
ress, the number of derricks is not short of fifty. Much 
activity exists at the landing, and it is fast taking posi- 
tion as a village. 

At the next bend below counted sixteen derricks, all 
idle and mostly new. Saturday evening, and the men 
may have quit work. 

At Walnut bend are nearly as many, the greater por- 
tion finished works, and some quite ancient, as men reckon 
antiquity in Petrolia. One concern at work, and reported 



186 Statistics of Production. 

to produce finely — in fact, has made the reputation of 
that place. A good deal of activity on that semi-circular 
headland at ordinary times. Is on east side of the Alle- 
ghany, and nearly eight miles above Oil City. On the 
west shore are the following wells : 

Blade Diamond Company's Wells. — Just commenced 
drilling. Situated on the Kinstler farm. 

El Dorado Company ] s Well. — On Conver farm. Depth, 
five hundred and thirty-seven feet. Pumped about one 
barrel per day until lately. Now idle. 

Pacific Oil Company's Wells. — On same farm. One is 
idle with tools fast ; another is drilling. Below these are 
two wells abandoned and two new derricks, one of them 
belonging to the United States Petroleum Company. No 
progress. Next two works (one new) damaged by flood ; 
also the relics of one burned, which belonged to the 
United States Petroleum Company, and said to have 
yielded thirty barrels per day. No signs of activity at 
any of these. 

Marshal Well. — On Tolles farm. Been in operation 
about a month, and pumping thirty to forty barrels per 
day. Depth, three hundred and fifty feet. 

Dr. Kinter's Well. — Has been pumped nine months, giv- 
ing average of fifteen barrels per day. Depth, three hun- 
dred and sixty feet. Owned by Alleghany and Walnut 
Bend Oil Company. Another, belonging to the same 
company, in progress. 

Drummond & Arnold Well. — On Stiner farm. Yield- 
ed freely for a year. Exhausted, and deepened without 
any result, and then abandoned. Depth, about five hun- 
dred feet. 



Statistics of Production. 187 

M. B. Brown's Well. — In progress. Depth, four hun- 
dred and sixty feet. Another work in progress. 

Rathburn, Lay & Company's Wells. — On Bhenof farm. 
Five in number. One sunk seven hundred and seventy- 
two feet. Gave no oil worth mentioning. One, five hun- 
dred and thirty- three feet, with like result. One sunk 
last year yields twenty -four barrels per day, on average. 
Other two in progress. The best of idle works yielded 
seven barrels daily for short time, but fell off. 

Cornwall and Titus Wells. — Two in number. One 
pumped seven barrels per day for three or four months ; 
the other did rather better. Both abandoned. Depth 
respectively, five hundred and five and six hundred feet. 

Powhatan Well. — On Downie farm. Belongs to a firm 
at Kittaning, Pa. Sunk two hundred feet in 1861. No 
oil. Abandoned and now deepening to five hundred feet. 

Ross Oil Company's Wells. — One is two or three years 
old. Before freshet yielded twelve to fifteen barrels per 
day. Damaged and idle at visit. Depth, four hundred 
and fifty feet. Another well has been five or six months 
in operation. Yields about ten barrels per day. Has im- 
proved since flood. Depth, four hundred and twenty-five 
feet. A third gave no oil and was abandoned. 

Clintock Cornwall Petroleum and Mining Company. — 
Have just put down a well five hundred feet. Only wa- 
ter as yet. Four old wells arid one unfinished close by. 

Wood, Mc Williams and Company's Wells. — On lower 
Rhenof farm. Owned by a ISTew-York interest. Put 
down in 1861, but neither tested. Depth, about four hun- 
dred feet. To be started anew. A third, put down same 
year, yielded irregularly from, five to fifteen barrels per 



188 Statistics of Production. 

day. Depth, three hundred and twenty feet. To be also 
resuscitated. 

Ballard Well. — Pumps twelve barrels per day. Sunk 
in 1861 to depth of four hundred feet. Another well of 
same owners never tested. 

Horse Creek Eddy Well. — Has pumped as high as fifty 
barrels daily, with average of twenty-five barrels, past 
year. Opened in the spring of 1864, and now in opera- 
tion. Depth, four hundred and eighty feet. Belongs to 
a Pittsburgh firm. Another well, owned by same, sunk 
in 1862 about six hundred feet. Averaged fifteen barrels 
per day for one year. Now idle. 

Humboldt Oil Company's Wells. — A New- York concern, 
owning part of the Lamb farm. Eight wells completed. 
Three unproductive. Two pump twenty barrels each, 
two thirty barrels each, and one five barrels per day. 
The last has been going four years. Depth, three hun- 
dred and ninety feet. All productive works said to be on 
the increase. Three of them opened the last six months. 

Tarr Homestead Oil Company's Well. — Yields from 
twenty to twenty-five barrels per day. Been in operation 
nine months, with no decrease. Depth, four hundred and 
sixty -two feet. 

Kincaid Well. — Pumps two to three barrels daily. 
Sunk nearly four years ago. About a dozen works in 
progress close by, mostly inclining toward the uplands. 
One, newly opened, said to yield seven to eight barrels 
per day. Another testing. 

Bradley Bend Wells. — Two in number and abandoned. 
For few weeks last summer one yielded sixty or seventy 
barrels per day ; then gave out. Depth four hundred 






Statistics of Production. 189 

feet. Belongs to Carbon Oil Company of Philadelphia. 
The second well yielded little. A third sinking. 

Sheridan Well, No. 1. — On Lay farm. Opened last Feb- 
ruary, and yields twenty to twenty-five barrels per day. 
Depth, three hundred and eighty-five feet. Owned by an 
Eastern company. Another well in progress with good 
appearances at two hundred feet deep. 

Wheeler Wells. — On Carey (or Curry) farm. Owned by 
Eockford Oil Company of Philadelphia. One in operation 
since 1861. Eanges from two to thirty-five barrels per 
day, with average of twenty. Depth, three hundred and 
twelve feet. No. Two is idle. To be deepened and re- 
reamed out to depth of five hundred feet. No. Three 
starting. No oil as yet. No. Four in progress. 

Baltimore Petroleum Company's Wells.— Ownership of 
six, on Downing farm, said to be divided between that 
company and a Philadelphian. Works sunk three or 
four years ago. One increased from five to ten barrels 
per day, but stopped by freshet ; now pumps only one 
and a half. All the wells understood to have been pro- 
fitable at one time ; but need to be burnished up and 
deepened. 

Alcorn (or Elhhorn) Oil Company's Wells. — On farm of 
same name. One begun in 1860, and sunk three hun- 
dred feet. No oil. Another put down to six hundred 
with like results. A third, also unproductive, is being 
deepened. Two others are leased to a Michigan com- 
pany, who are sinking further. 

Howard Well. — Sunk five hundred and twenty -five feet, 
and going down to seven hundred. Keport of a good 
show, etc. 

Well No. Seven. — Also on Alcorn tract. Put down in 



190 Statistics of Production. 

1860, and yielded two to seven barrels daily. Engine too 
weak. 

Caswell, Herbert & Company's Well. — On island oppo- 
site Not in operation since flood. Yielded ten to fifteen 
barrels a day before freshet. Now sinking deeper. 

Hilands Oil Company's Well. — On Siverly farm. In 
progress. Thompson Well. — Ditto. Snnk three hundred 
and fifty feet. Got small quantity at one hundred and 
fifty feet. One abandoned well, never yielded much. 
Another commenced drilling. 

Clark c& Company's Well. — Sunk in 1861, by hand 
and horse-power. Never pumped, but dipped up with 
pail half a barrel per day. Owners now preparing to 
sink deeper. Belongs to Chatauqua Oil Company. Depth, 
four hundred feet. Another sunk in 1861 to five hundred 
feet, with no result. 

Mem. — Siverly farm is about one mile above Oil City. 
Land fronting on river is held at five thousand dollars 
per acre. 

On the Hassen farm, immediately above Oil City, are 
the following wells : No. One. — Yielded from two to eight 
barrels per day for a few weeks in 1860. Depth, one hun- 
dred and sixty feet. Sunk two hundred feet further with 
no result. Water Works well. — Pumped ten barrels per 
day for two years ; now dry. This was the only old work 
on the farm that yielded largely. Five or six others were 
sunk and abandoned as unprofitable. One has continued 
to flow or drip about a barrel per day for three months. 

Cleveland and Cherry Valley Oil Company's Wells. — 
Are situated on Eeed Kun. One pumps ten barrels per 
day, from depth of six hundred feet. Newly opened. An- 
other getting ready to test, with fair prospects. 



Statistics of Production. 191 

On the opposite side of the Alleghany, between Oil City 
and Walnut Bend, are perhaps thirty wells, a majority of 
them under way. I did not observe any pumping oil as 
I passed up the river on the west side. 

In making up a recapitulation of the whole, some allow- 
ance should be made for wells actually yielding oil, but 
which appeared to be idle at the time, perhaps because 
they were pumped " by head." I have made allowance 
for ten such at the usual rate of yield on Oil Creek. 

If it be desired to calculate upon the basis given under- 
neath the annual product of the wells, the number of days 
should be set down at about three hundred and forty, to 
make up for the large flowing wells, which work seven 
days in the week, and about one-quarter of the pumping- 
wells, whose owners follow nature in this respect. 

The number of wells denotes, not the engines which 
were pumping merely, but those which were pumping oil 
on the days of my visit. On the Tarr and other farms, I 
estimate that at least fifty more were at work, exhausting 
the water, making the active aggregate three hundred and 
seventy-five. This will probably be increased to five 
hundred before midsummer. 





RECAPITULA' 

WELLS 


riON. 

TOTAL YIELD, 


ATERAGE 


SECTIONS. 


IN OPERATION. 


BARRELS. 


PER DAY. 


Watson Flats, etc., . 


21 


362 


17.1 


Miller Farm, 


1 


28 
523 


28.0 


Foster & McElhenny 


Farms,. .. 15 


34.9 


Funk & Boyd 


do. ... 16 


648 


40.5 


Wash. McClintock 


do. ... 15 


345 


23.0 


Hyde & Egbert 


do. ... 6 


725 


120.8 


Storey 


do. ... 22 


855 


38.8 


Tarr & Blood 


do. ... 19 


411 


21.6 



192 Statistics of Production, 

SECTIONS WELLS T ° TAL YIELD ' AVERAGE 

IN OPERATION. BARRELS. PER DAY. 

Rynd & Wid. McC. do. . . . 14 147 10.5 

Rouse & Buchanan do. ... 17 415 24.4 

H. McClintock to Oil City,. . . 16 682 42.6 

Oil Creek valley, 162 5141 31.7 

Cherry Run, 51 1972 38.7 

Pithole Creek, 3 * 300 100.0 

French and Sugar Creeks, ... 14 50 3.6 

Lower Alleghany, 51 404 7.9 

Upper do 31 666 21.5 

Omitted, 10 317 31.7 

Grand totals, 322 8850 27.5 

At this rate, the annual product of Petrolia may be set 
down at three million nine thousand barrels. We can 
very well afford to leave out of the account the odd thou- 
sands, and accept the round three millions as the amount 
of very sensible perspiration which has exuded from the 
pores of our common mother in that twenty miles square 
block of Pennsylvania. 

But, in truth, th# amount given, magnificent as it may 
be, is far below the grand aggregate, taking one season 
with another. Along the Alleghany and the lower farms 
on Oil Creek and Cherry Run, I estimate the proportion 
of wells temporarily disabled by the freshet at one-fourth 
of those producing in the early part of March. Again, 
there are large numbers which are now operated during 
the summer months only, and had not then got fairly 
under way. I think one hundred of these at least would 
be going by the first of May, and continue steadily during 
the summer months. It is true the average productive- 
ness of these is considerably below that of the aggregate. 

* Partly estimated. 



Statistics of Production, 193 

But if an allowance of one-half be made for this draw- 
back, the residue would make a material increase in the 
quantity. The newly opened and reopened wells will do 
more, during this summer, than replace those which go 
out of date as non-producers. Taking all these increments 
into consideration, I have no doubt that the actual yield 
of Yenango is over ten thousand barrels per day, giving 
as a grand annual aggregate nearly three millions and a 
half of barrels. 
9 



CHAPTEK VII. 

OIL REFINING AND REFINERIES. 

The refining of petroleum, or preparing it for illumi- 
nating and lubricating purposes, is one of the new depart- 
ments of industry created during the past five years, and 
now giving profitable employment to hundreds of men in 
Western Pennsylvania alone. Its object is two-fold — to 
free the liquid from impurities, with their offensive smell, 
and to render it unexplosive. In both, the most triumph- 
ant success has attended the efforts made ; and rock-oil, 
as it affords the cheapest and most brilliant light known, 
is equally safe and inoffensive. 

For much of this success, the country is indebted to 
Mr. Samuel M. Kier, of Pittsburgh, who had been giving 
his attention to this subject as early as 1849. He sent a 
quantity of it to a Philadelphia chemist to have it analyz- 
ed, and learned that if he could get a suitable lamp for 
burning it, the oil would make an excellent illuminator. 
Eeturning to Pittsburgh, he set other men's wits at work, 
and soon obtained the desideratum, Mr. Kier erecting a 
small refinery. From 1850 to 1855, he disposed of all the 
petroleum he could obtain from his own and his neigh- 
bors' salt- works, in which it had been discovered, selling 
with it the lamps used for burning it. Boring for oil ex- 
clusively had not then been thought of; but when Eve- 



Oil Refining and Refineries. , ■ 195 

leth, Bissel, & Drake made their famous attempt, Colonel 
Drake visited and examined Mr. Kier's salt-wells on the 
Alleghany — with what result is already sufficiently known. 

The first process in distillation, after pouring the crude 
oil into tanks in the ground, is to pump it into the stills. 
At Corry, three of these have a capacity of twenty-six 
thousand gallons each. They are made of heavy boiler- 
plate, capable of withstanding a very high pressure, the 
liquid being raised to a heat of four hundred or five hun- 
dred degrees Fahrenheit. The stills being duly charged 
and closed, fire is applied in the furnaces underneath, about 
six o'clock in the morning. By the same hour in the 
evening they should be emptied. As the oil evaporates, 
under such a powerful heat, the gas passes into a " worm" 
or " condenser" — a long, slender tube, immersed in a cur- 
rent of cold water, which causes the vapor to return to 
the liquid condition. On emerging from this tube, the 
oil has a whitish blue or bluish white color, instead of its 
native dark green hue. 

From the condenser, it next passes into the " receiver," 
a large tank, out of which it is transferred, without un- 
dergoing any further change, into the " treating-tank" or 
" agitator." This may be of any size, provided it allow 
for mixing thoroughly and in due proportion the " distil- 
late" (the name given to petroleum in that stage) with 
sulphuric acid, (oil of vitriol.) The quantity of acid usu- 
ally assigned to thirty barrels of oil is between five and 
six pounds, which being poured in, the whole mass is 
stirred or agitated, by means of a strong current of air or 
iron paddles, for about ten minutes. The object of this 
process is to separate from the oil such foreign ingredients 
as dirt, tar, and other impurities, that may still have min- 



196 Oil Refining and Refineries. 






gled with it. These settle down and rest upon the concave 
bottom of the vessel by their own greater specific gravity, 
and are taken away separately. Their color is dark purple 
or nearly black. 

The oil is next washed with clean water, and agitated 
afresh for a period of fifteen or twenty minutes, this pro- 
cess being repeated several times, so as to remove from it 
every particle of the acid. After washing, it is treated to 
a dose of alkali, (usually soda,) in the proportion of five 
gallons to thirty barrels, whereupon it is submitted to the 
" hydrometrical test," to be noticed afterward. The alkali 
gives it brilliancy, and removes every particle of acid that 
may have remained in it. Next, it is drawn into the 
"bleachers" or " settling-tanks," which are large, shallow 
wooden tubs. The liquid has now a whitish or bluish- 
white color. Measured by the hydrometer, this instrument 
is found to rest at the point marked forty-seven degrees 
on the scale, sinking to the level of a higher figure in 
proportion to the lightness of the oil. Its range varies 
from fifteen to eighty degrees. The coal-oil is not so white 
as that distilled from petroleum, which is more of a straw- 
color than the former. 

From the settling-tank, it is then drawn off into barrels 
of from forty to forty-five gallons each. These are made 
of the best white oak, their insides being carefully lined 
with glue or soluble glass, previous to being filled. If 
the barrels be sent back for re-filling, the same process has 
again to be gone through with ; it being judged unsafe, 
by means of a crack in the coating, to leave a particle of 
the wood exposed to the insinuating action of petroleum. 
Besides the loss of material in such a case, there is the 
much greater danger of the liquid, after oozing through, 



Oil Refining and Refineries. 197 

taking fire and exciting a general conflagration. Before 
re-gluing or re-glazing, the old coat has to be melted and 
drawn off by means of a jet of steam. 

After distillation, the first liquor that comes off is naph- 
tha or lenzine, a very light, volatile, and inflammable 
substance, its hydro metrical test varying from sixty -five 
to seventy-five degrees. When the discharge coming from 
the condenser descends to sixty or sixty-two, the naphtha 
is cut off and let run to oil. If cut off at sixty-five or 
seventy, the oil will be very light, rather inflammable, and 
insufficient to stand the fire-test. In different states, va- 
rious tests as to the quality of the liquid in this respect 
have been established, the instrument used being termed 
a " pyrometer" or " fire-measure." The standard in New- 
York is one hundred and ten degrees, but in Pennsylvania 
and Ohio one hundred. The pyrometer is a little brass 
vessel, the bottom of which contains a small quantity of 
water, heated by applying a gas-lamp. Immediately above 
this water is placed a small cup containing refined oil, 
which is heated equally with the water. The " test" means 
the point at which vapor arising from the petroleum, after 
the application of heat, will ignite, when a lighted match 
is held above it. If it takes fire at a. low figure in the 
scale, there is danger of such oil, when placed in a lamp, 
igniting and causing the lamp to burst, since a certain 
portion of heat is communicated to it all through from the 
flame above. If the gas blow out the light, it is termed 
the " vapor-test ;" if it ignite, it is the regular fire-test. 
The difference between these is not apt to be quite &ve 
degrees. The point of ignition is between one hundred 
and fifteen and one hundred and twenty degrees in the 
best quality of petroleum. It may be observed, however, 



198 Oil Refining and Refineries. 

that, in consequence of its more rapid heating by some 
persons than by others, this standard will vary somewhat ; 
the difference between the figures, in testing the same 
sample, running from one to five degrees, according as the 
person engaged applies the heat rapidly or slowly. The 
more time there is allowed, the article will appear to better 
advantage. 

There are three grades of refined oil — "the prime 
white," " the standard white" or " light straw," and the 
"straw-colored." The last-named usually stands a fire- 
test of one hundred and fifteen degrees. 

The next run from the stills, after benzine and oil, is 
called parqffine — a whitish, wax-like, inflammable sub- 
stance, which is used in making the best candles, in mix- 
ing with wax, and occasionally is manufactured into 
sweetmeats ! The proportion of this substance to the 
pure petroleum varies according to the season, being 
greater in winter than in summer, when some of it appears 
to mingle with the oil. Out of one hundred barrels of 
distillate, from three to five of paraffine will usually be 
obtained. All refiners, however, do not separate it, some 
letting it remain with the liquid. Elsewhere I have no- 
ticed the troubles arising from the collecting of this ingre- 
dient on the inside of the tubing, the pump-rods, and even 
the well, stopping the veins and preventing the passage 
of oil upward. 

The residuum coming from the condenser is tar, the 
ratio of which to all other substances is under one per 
cent. It is commonly used on the ground as fuel ; but a 
new use for it has been discovered in some places where 
refineries have been established, namely, to lubricate such 
heavy articles of machinery as cog-wheels. 



Oil Refining and Refineries. 199 

The fine lubricating oil obtained on French and Sugar 
Creeks, and for a short distance above the mouth of the 
latter on the Alleghany, is not always submitted to the 
refining processes. Such portions of it as are used on 
locomotives, stationary engines, and most kinds of heavy 
machinery, pass directly from the tank to the operative's 
flask ; but it is judged best to refine such oils as may be 
required on the more delicate kinds, as cotton, silk, and 
woollen machinery. The modes of treating it do not vary 
materially from those of refining common illuminating oil. 

In the Corry works, after going through the several 
processes, it is placed in a room which is a mammoth re- 
frigerator, the temperature being reduced to a very low 
degree by salt and ice. In a short time, the oil becomes 
a thick slush, in which condition it is put into strong can- 
vas-bags and subjected to a powerful pressure, by which 
the pure oil is forced through the coarse cloth, leaving 
the paraffine inside, which forms in thin, hard cakes, of a 
gray or light-brown color. This substance readily separates 
into thin flakes, somewhat resembling the scales of a fish. 
In this condition the paraffine is sent to Boston, where it 
is refined to the pure white article of commerce. 

The quantity of merchantable products of all kinds — 
refined oil, naphtha, paraffine, and tar or residuum — ob- 
tained by distillation, varies according to the quality of 
the crude oil, and to some slight extent according to the 
season. At the Downer works they reckon upon eighty- 
five to ninety per cent on the average. Mr. Sommers of 
Jersey City assures me that he has distilled as much as 
ninety-five per cent out of some illuminating oils ; but this 
is an unusually high figure. There is commonly a little 
more loss in refining oils for exportation than for consump- 
tion in the home market. 



200 Oil Refining and Refineries. 

As to the proportions of each, there is much diversity, 
these varying with the natural quality of the crude article, 
and with the purpose and skill of the manufacturer, so 
that it is difficult to give an estimate which will apply to 
all. Mr. Sommers states that when they make it for ex- 
portation, the fire-test being one hundred and fifteen, they 
get about seventy -five per cent of refined petroleum and 
about fifteen per cent of benzine. With a fire- test of 
one hundred degrees, which is considered perfectly safe, 
they get from eighty to eighty -two per cent of refined oil, 
and about eight per cent of naphtha. The latter ordinari- 
ly sells at about half the price per gallon of the former. 

One of the products of Heinrich & Sommers's refinery 
in Jersey city is gasoline — a liquid which bears about the 
same relation to benzine as the latter does to refined oil. 
It begins to come off at a heat of eighty-five degrees 
Fahrenheit, and is cut off when the heat rises to one hun- 
dred and fifty degrees. Between one hundred and fifty 
and two hundred and twelve degrees, (the boiling point,) 
benzine or naphtha comes off. From this point, to get all 
the petroleum, the heat is raised to about four hundred 
and fifty degrees, beyond which it is scarcely ever neces- 
sary to go. Gasoline is used in some establishments for 
the manufacture of common illuminating gas, which can 
be made from it more cheaply than from coal. It has 
been introduced into the Springfield armory, among other 
concerns. The government charges a tax of five per cent 
ad valorem on this, as on refined lubricating oil, instead of 
the ordinary twenty cents per gallon. 

The proportion of crude to refined oil exported, Mr. 
Sommers estimates at from one-third to one-fourth. More 
or less of the former is sent to Great Britain, France, 



Oil Refining and Refineries. 201 

and Germany, where chemicals as well as labor can be 
had cheaper. To all other countries petroleum is shipped 
in its refined state only. 

There is no single centre of this business, it being car- 
ried on all over the country, from the sea-board cities to 
Corry, Pittsburgh, and numerous other points in the West. 
The largest concern of the kind in Petrolia proper is the 
Downer works at Corry, the premises comprising half a 
dozen acres. The number of men employed usually ap- 
proaches two hundred, and the capacity of the works is 
eighteen hundred barrels per week. The buildings are 
of brick and made fire-proof throughout. On one occa- 
sion a still burst and its contents took fire ; but as each of 
the six furnaces occupies a separate apartment, the flame 
was extinguished by the application of steam from the ad- 
joining boilers. The whole arrangements about this con- 
cern are equally perfect, showing a regard to order and 
neatness as well as safety. 

Next in capacity to this establishment is the Humboldt 
refinery at Plumer, the area inclosed being nearly twenty- 
five acres, and the works so planned as to take advantage 
of the natural descent of the ground, in the passage of oil 
from one set of vessels to another, thus dispensing with 
the use of artificial power ; they are also so far separated 
that, in the event of one building taking fire, it would not 
be communicated to. any of the others. The proprietors 
are Messrs. Ludovici, Brothers, who are natives of Ger- 
many, and gentlemen of rare intelligence and urbanity. 
The author of a pamphlet entitled, "All about Petro- 
leum," has fallen into some amusing errors concerning this 
establishment, it is believed, from not having been within 
some miles of the concern which he attempts to describe 
9* 



202 Oil Refining and Refineries, 

with his usual grandiloquence. He speaks of " a color pro- 
duced from the residuum of the petroleum " at that estab- 
lishment, as being " a bright and fixed cerulean blue, or 
perhaps a shade darker, and called the Humboldt color." 
Its proper name is analine. One of the proprietors assures 
me that, at the time when this statement appeared, they 
had not even thought of making such a color ; but since 
that time, inquiries and orders had come to them in 
such numbers that they concluded to engage in it. Fur- 
ther, the writer goes on to say, that " the discoverers are 
German chemists, who do not speak, if they understand, 
English." The Mr. Ludovici whom I saw speaks as good 
English as is found in the pamphlet ! Again : " No 
stranger is allowed to enter their works, except by special 
permission." Nothing could be more incorrect than this 
statement, as I wandered through them and made in- 
quiries, without so much as one of the employes asking 
a question, much less refusing permission to go further. 
Other persons did the same thing while I was present ; 
and this was no newly adopted arrangement. So much 
for the accounts of a writer who, from a distance of miles, 
undertakes to describe "All about Petroleum," manifestly 
taking less pains to arrive at the truth than to depict, in 
glowing " colors," a great and important interest, whose 
defects, however, he is equally careful to conceal. 

The number of stills in the Humboldt works is twenty, 
and their capacity is one thousand barrels per week. The 
oil refined there is for the most part exported to Europe, 
where it has an established reputation. The proprietors 
are organizing under a charter of incorporation. From 
Tarr farm, three miles distant, the oil raised is forced, by 
a powerful pumping apparatus, over the hills to Plumer, 






Oil Refining and Refineries. 203 

and, after refining, is thence taken by wagon to the Al- 
leghany Eiver landing or to Titusville. Saw-mills, barrel- 
factories, etc., are on the premises. 

Messrs. Warren, Brothers', refinery is in the same vil- 
lage, and contains sixteen stills, with a capacity of nine 
hundred barrels per week. A powerful Worthington 
pump forces the refined oil to the summit of the ridge 
east of the works, about two hundred feet in perpendicular 
height, whence it descends by the force of gravity to the 
Alleghany. 

At Titusville are four or five refineries, mostly of small 
capacity, the principal being the Bunker Hill works ; 
probably as many as twenty more of the same character 
are scattered along Oil Creek down to its mouth. Near 
Petroleum Centre are six of these, the largest having four 
thirty-barrel stills ; three are on the Storey farm ; about 
half a dozen are on the flats immediately above Oil City, 
the largest being the Union works, with four stills, and 
now owned by Mr. Truair. In the lower part of that 
place, the Oil City Petroleum and Eefining Company own 
a refinery having four stills, with a capacity of three hun- 
dred barrels per week, and a second, of two hundred bar- 
rels, on Holliday Eun. Messrs. W. H. Lay & Co. have 
another, with three stills, and a capacity of two hundred 
barrels. On Cherry Eun, the Messrs. Orr's refinery will 
turn out one hundred and fifty barrels weekly. At Eeno 
Station, two miles below Oil City, are three refineries ; 
about as far above Franklin, another is about to commence 
work. One mile above Franklin, on French Creek, a 
neat little concern has been in successful operation for 
some time. 

On the flats above Oil City, only one of these establish- 



204 Oil Refining and Refineries. 

merits was actively at work when I visited that locality ; 
and taking all the works along Oil Creek, as many as one 
half were standing idle. The others were moving along 
under easy sail, so that it is probable three times the 
quantity of refined oil could be produced that was then 
being turned out. As a whole, I have no doubt the busi- 
ness has been profitable, and will so continue to be, in 
spite of the oppressively heavy taxes imposed on both 
crude and refined petroleum by the general government. 
It was represented, however, that, in consequence of these, 
some works had suspended operations, and might come to 
a full stop. If this imposition, made by Uncle Samuel, 
be traceable to the impositions made upon many of Uncle 
Samuel's family, through misrepresentation as to the re- 
sources of Petrolia, who shall say that the retribution was 
not deserved ? 

The advantages and disadvantages of establishing re- 
fineries near the oil regions are many, and pretty nearly 
equally balanced. By being on the ground, one is en- 
abled to take immediate advantage of every turn of the 
market in making purchases. There is also a saving in 
transportation ; though this is partly offset by the freight 
on chemicals, which have to be sent on from the East. 
Probably the greatest benefit is in knowing and being 
personally known by managers at the wells. On the other 
hand, real estate, fuel, labor, etc., are from fifty to one 
hundred per cent higher in Petrolia than elsewhere ; and 
until " order reigns " there, must so continue to be. With 
cheap transportation by river, and thence by railroad, 
with an abundantly supplied labor market, and coal at a 
minimum, Pittsburgh is thought by many to be the best 
point for refining petroleum ; but with the requisite capital 



Oil Refining and Refineries. 205 

and skill, a small refinery may be run successfully at almost 
any point furnishing cheap fuel, cheap transportation, 
and a market for the article. No other form of industry 
is likely to be less localized than this. The principal mat- 
ter to be considered is, whether the number of refineries 
is not already in excess of the supply of crude petroleum 



CHAPTER VIII. 

HOW STRANGERS ARE TAKEN IN. 

" If we succeed, we shall make half a million ; if we 
don't, we can lose only the five hundred dollars," observed 
an oil-prince to me one evening, after relating the success 
of a pecuniary transaction in which he and a few others 
had engaged. The prince aforesaid is by no means an 
unworthy citizen. On the contrary, as he is rotund and 
good-natured, so he is affable and obliging. I am not cer- 
tain but that he is even public-spirited — at least as much 
so as any body else in the same locality. He was concern- 
ed in no operation which society would term nefarious, 
much less stamp as infamous ; but with all this, he, a 
dull-looking, phlegmatic Pennsylvanian, was setting his 
snares for catching smart, shrewd, keen, sagacious Boston- 
ians, New-Yorkers, and Philadelphians, of the Wall-street 
type. And as he was ready enough, without solicitation, 
to unfold his plans, I have thought proper to open this 
chapter with an allusion to them. 

The mode of operating was substantially this : He and 
his associates had purchased a considerable tract of land 

at the head of — Run, on which the sum of five 

hundred dollars only had to be paid down ; the residue 
to be paid at a date sufficiently far distant to allow time 
for making experiments. At the same time, the associates 



How Strangers are Taken in. 207 

had made arrangements with another person to sink a well 
on an acre-lot — they contributing with, the real estate 
one-tenth of the capital, for which they were to receive 
one-eighth of the oil obtained. The locality being at some 
miles' distance from any paying well, it is easy to see that 
this bargain was perfectly satisfactory to the purchasers, 
as the risk of sinking was nearly all transferred to the 
well-digger. If he succeeded in getting oil, one acre of 
the remaining property would sell for as much as the whole 
tract had cost ; if not, they had only to throw up the con- 
tract and forfeit the five hundred dollars. Hence it was 
with a smile of triumph that he made the remark : " If 
we succeed, we shall make half a million by the operation." 

By transactions somewhat similar, nearly every foot of 
land within fifteen miles of Oil Creek has passed into the 
hands of speculators, who are " operating for a rise" by 
arts and appliances known only to the initiated. Some of 
these are not dishonorable, in the ordinary sense of the 
term ; others are bald swindles which call for exposure. 

Lands are not offered for sale by middle-men until a 
well has been struck on or near the premises. No matter 
how remote these may be, the " good show" of petroleum 
is inevitably followed by the erection of one or more lines 
of telegraph. Every day's yield is carefully noted and 
registered and telegraphed to the great cities, as also to 
the principal points in Petrolia where strangers are accus- 
tomed to congregate. This operation continues as long as 
the well keeps on the increase, and even after it comes to 
a stand-still. The philosophy of laying down telegraphic 
wires, while common highways have hardly been thought 
of, is explained by the maxim : " Strike while the iron is 
hot." In other words, sell your interest in a well before 



208 How Strangers are Taken in. 

its productiveness has begun to fall off, which is morally 
certain to take place within a calendar month after discov- 
ery. The market value of a good well on Oil Creek or 
its tributaries is usually calculated at so much for every 
barrel of oil yielded in one day. Last winter the price 
was as high as five thousand dollars per barrel ; since 
then, it has fallen off to three thousand dollars. Thus a 
forty -barrel well is supposed to be intrinsically worth one 
hundred and twenty thousand dollars. On French or 
Sugar Creek, where the oil is of a much better quality, 
the price per barrel, of course, is greater. 

Now it is of the utmost consequence that the measure- 
ment be made and widely published while the well is in 
the hey-day of its prime, before its energies have begun 
to relax and its discharges to be less copious. At five 
thousand dollars per barrel, a newly-tapped source giving 
one hundred barrels per day might have realized half a 
million last February or March ; while by the middle of 
April it would probably have declined to fifty or sixty 
barrels, worth only three thousand dollars each, or say 
one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. The read- 
er will readily comprehend the zeal manifested for " prog- 
ress" in the direction of the magnetic wire throughout 
Petrolia ; while such every-day matters as common roads 
are utterly neglected. 

To cooperate with the telegraph, the several entrances 
into the oil region are commonly garrisoned by a corps of 
veterans, who have a direct interest in magnifying the 
powers and resources of the country. With the prosperity 
of Oil-dom proper, all the avenues leading thither also 
prosper ; every hotel-keeper, every land-agent, every mer- 
chant, every owner of real estate, prosper. Demetrius, 



How Strangers are Taken in. 209 

the silversmith, calling his workmen together and explain- 
ing to them, " Sirs, ye know that it is by these things we 
have our wealth. . . Great is Diana of the Ephesians I" 
explains sufficiently the influences which are often brought 
to bear upon the stranger, as he passes through Corry, 
Titusville, Franklin, or Oil City. " Have you heard of 
the two hundred-barrel well struck on Big Pithole yester- 
day ? It is a fact, sir. I saw a gentleman just come 
from it, and he assured me that he ' timed' it with his 
watch for a quarter of an hour, and it gave one hundred 
gallons good in that time. I have no doubt of his word, 
sir. Pithole is going to be developed this summer. The 
best judges say it is every bit as good oil territory as the 
creek." To which the company respond affirmatively, 
some of them perhaps announcing still greater develop- 
ments in the same line. 

For the group present consists largely of interested 
witnesses. -In those hotels and boarding-houses on the 
outskirts of Petrolia are platoons of men eager to " make 
an honest penny" by selling or leasing lands, the right of 
refusal, oil stocks, interests in wells, etc. — their profits or 
commissions depending on the result, according as they 
may succeed in making a favorable impression or other- 
wise on the stranger. There are also congregated the 
agents of Eastern manufacturers, who strive to push their 
fabrics as extensively as possible into the country. There, 
too, assemble daily the oil-princes who have made their 
fortunes in the business, and have either retired or kept 
extending the circle of their operations, until their names 
appearing as managers of any new enterprise secure it all 
the pecuniary support required. The sight of a living, 
moving, talking millionaire- — perhaps only a teamster 



210 How Strangers are Taken in. 

three years ago — is too dazzling to most minds to be 
gazed upon without turning the head. As he paces the 
floor, and proceeds to narrate his experience in the oil re- 
gions — how he came hither with only five dollars in his 
pocket, and how he stuck to it till he found himself the 
owner of a controlling interest in eleven paying wells, 
sandwiching advices among the observations — it is diffi- 
cult to escape catching the contagion. " I never knew a 
man that stuck on to the oil business but what succeeded, 
and got rich at last," is a clincher to the stranger with one 
hundred thousand dollars in money or credit in his wallet. 

Mr. Secretary, we will suppose, has just arrived at one 
of these caravansaries, and become deeply interested in 
conversation with an oil-prince or agent, who depicts in 
glowing terms the virtues of a certain piece of property, 
and the productiveness of a well, in which he has an 
interest for sale, after having made money enough, etc. 
As the agent or confidential adviser of a strong com- 
pany at the East, he decides to visit that well the next 
day to see for himself, and if the facts turn out as re- 
presented, either to purchase an interest in it, or a ter- 
ritory" as close by as possible. He will recommend a 
purchase, if he does not himself buy ; for oil is now down 
in price, and certain to advance with the opening of the 
spring business, so that the purchaser of a large interest is 
likely to make a good thing out of it before thirty days. 
But he is too old a bird to be caught with chaff; he will 
place implicit belief in nobody's word ; he has seen too 
much of the world for that. He will go and examine for 
himself what the well is actually doing, " timing" its yield, 
and making all the other necessary inquiries. 

Now here comes in the great beauty, the amazing util- 



How Strangers are Taken in. 211 

ity of that marvel of the nineteenth century, the telegraph. 
For while Mr. Secretary is admiring his black boot-legs, 
or calculating his profits on the prospective purchase, the 
affable Petrolian who gave him the information and offer- 
ed to accompany him to the well, has quietly sent a dis- 
patch to the manager with this purport : " Secretary and 
I will be with you at eleven o'clock to-morrow. Have 
every thing in apple-pie order. Yours, Petee O'Leum." 

Peter, you must know, is the most disinterested fellow 
in the world, and clever withal. He cracks jokes at his 
own or other people's expense. On their way he is vol- 
uble in explaining every thing — the phenomenon of so 
many wells standing idle and the like. They were put 
down just before the great fall in the price of oil, four 
years ago, and then abandoned ; the company had not 
means enough to finish, although the well gave a first-rate 
show ; the great freshet — that convenient scapegoat — 
swept over the bottom, and managers have not yet got 
their new machinery on the ground ; such a well paid for 
itself five times over, and can afford to rest awhile; 
yonder is the Great Geyser, which literally set the river 
on fire and burned for three days and nights. With such 
thrilling reminiscences of the past, the stranger at length 
finds himself confronting the object of his search — the 
two hundred barrel well. 

And it is a grand sight to behold ! For, even after re- 
ducing its reported yield fifty per cent, the spectacle of 
one pouring forth of its own accord one hundred barrels 
every twenty-four hours is sufficient to make the behold- 
er's eyes glisten, his teeth water, and his brain grow dizzy, 
unless his mental composition be different from that of 
most men. That moderate quantity in Petrolia, at the 



212 How Strangers are Taken in. 

low prices lately ruling, represents an income of five 
hundred dollars per day, fifteen thousand dollars per 
month, or one hundred and eighty thousand dollars for 
the whole year. True, it is far from being equal to the 
wealth of a Tarr, a Blood, a Hyde, a McClintock, a Cul- 
ver, a Sherman, a Noble, a Delamater, an Allen, a Funk, 
a Downer, or many another oil-prince ; still it is a snug 
little competency with which an aged pair might think of 
retiring, without feeling greatly distressed as to the means 
of support in this world. The very fumes of the gas have 
an exhilarating, if not intoxicating, effect on one's brain. 
Who cares, under circumstances. where he is likely to 
be pecuniarily concerned, about the mystery of the gen- 
esis of petroleum ? Of what consequence to the purchas- 
er whether the drill has struck the aorta of a half-petrified 
whale, which is making its last and greatest spout, as it 
was wont to do in the Greenland seas ; or whether the 
greasy liquid has been distilled from coal, or is a new 
chemical combination going on in the world's basement- 
story ? Topsy's explanation, that it " wasn't made, but 
growed," is as good as any when one is seriously thinking 
of making an investment. " Well, sir," observes Mr. P. 
O'L., after allowing the spectacle time to make its own 
impression, " you see there is no mistake about that well. 
I have timed her repeatedly, and found her to be a little 
over two hundred barrels a day. The engineer says she 
yields better at night than during the day, and in winter 
quite as good as during the summer, on account of the 
paraffme which collects in the warm weather, you know. 
That well would net you a good half-million the first 
year, and in twenty years would make a man as rich as 
John Jacob Astor." , 



How Strangers are Taken in. 213 

"Figures never lie;" "facts are stubborn things," and 
all that ; but with any number of such proverbs and wise 
saws, it is almost refreshing to watch how many shrewd, 
sharp, intelligent Eastern financiers, who feel themselves 
competent to buy and sell all creation, can themselves be 
bought and sold and delivered by Petrol ian speculators, 
through the simple agency of facts and figures. 

Perhaps the disinterested Peter is agent for an old and 
established concern — a fifty-barrel well, we shall suppose 
— that has a history of which any institution might justly 
feel proud. It has already enriched half a dozen ; and the 
lucky owner of a one-fourth interest in it, having made 
money enough, is desirous of leaving the country, and en- 
joying his dignity with ease and plenty elsewhere. Peter 
induces the stranger to fix the day and hour for a visit, 
whereupon the secret is duly whispered over the wires. 
Now, it happens that the aforesaid well. has, for a year or 
more, been pumping "by head," that is, two or three 
hours per day, or as often as the butter collected on the 
churned milk below, thus saving both fuel and labor. 
The men engaged about it have received instructions as 
to how they shall answer questions ; and so, every thing- 
being in readiness, the curtain rises. Mr. Secretary and 
Peter step out on the stage and examine the works. They 
repair to the tank, climbing the greasy ladder which leads 
up to it, both manifesting the utmost unconcern about 
purity of fingers or cleanness of coat-skirt. The fact is, 
in twenty -four hours the stranger has become almost a 
Petrolian ; and Peter is careful to flatter his vanity, by 
congratulating him on the rapidity of his naturalization, 
Peter's mouth yields more lubricating oil than the best 
well on French Creek. " A big thing that, I tell you," 



214 How Strangers are Taken in. 

he exclaims. "It is," dryly responds Secretary; "but I 
guess the yield's not over thirty -five barrels a day." The 
proprietor here steps forward, and observes : " You see 
that tank, sir. It is ten feet deep, contains eight hundred 
barrels, when filled, and is now half full. (Measures.) 
Well, sir, that was pumped since last Monday week, just 
eight days." In verification of this he calls for the en- 
gineer, who confirms all he had said, except that it lacks 
an hour or two of being quite eight days. " Well, I knew," 
proceeds the other, "that I had not gone beyond the truth, 
at any rate. She's one of the best and steadiest wells on 
the creek ; and if I didn't want to get out of the business 
and go home to my family, I would never think of part- 
ing with her." What more could Mr. Incredulity himself 
ask than this? To the testimony of three witnesses is 
added ample verification by his own eye, he having timed 
the yield by his elegant repeater. He inquires the price, 
the lowest cash-down price, at which the owner is ready to 
sell his interest, and closes the bargain then and there. 

" Which certainly seemed wondrous cheap, 
And for the money quite a heap, 
As every man would buy with cash and sense." 

Mem. No. One. — If Mr. Secretary had been there three 
days ago, he might have learned that a purchase of fifty 
barrels of oil had been made from a neighbor, the same 
being conveyed on the sly into the tank of that " very 
steady well." 

Mem. No. Two. — If he had some means of gauging its 
contents, he might discover that seventy per cent con- 
sists of salt water, which has settled to the bottom by vir- 
tue of its greater specific gravity. Ordinarily, this is per- 



How Strangers are Taken in. 215 

mitted to escape by a stop-cock, inserted near the bottom ; 
but this discharge has been stopped, to prepare for such 
distinguished visitors a suitable reception. 

Mem. No. Theee. — If he should remain on the ground 
two hours, he would be certain to find the engine break- 
ing down, so that it could not pump another drop. By 
some lucky arrangement a bolt would get loose or fuel 
would run short, just in the nick of time, the oil having 
been completely exhausted from the well ! Whereupon 
the engine would get a blessing (in disguise) from some of 
the men in charge of the works, accompanied by the frank 
declaration, that if they had only got a good machine, in- 
stead of that rickety concern, the well would have yielded 
sixty or seventy barrels a day — perhaps one hundred. 

The purchaser is a believer in improvements, and makes 
up his mind to replace that inefficient engine by a good 
one, which he proceeds to recommend or order as soon as 
possible. 

That evening he retires to rest in a delicious state of 
self-complacency at his day's work, and full of great ex- 
pectations for the future. The seller sticks his tongue in 
his cheek and keeps it there. Peter has managed to clear 
a thousand dollars by the operation, besides gaining the 
reputation of being a deuced smart fellow. 

I assert that this is a part, and but a part, of the system 
of swindling carried on in the oil regions — a system which 
has been reduced to both a science and an art. It is ex- 
quisite, magnificent, stupendous, brilliantly successful. It 
is the key to that certain wealth which, we are told, finally 
awaits all who persevere in Petrolia. The employes of 
individuals and companies have addressed me more than 
once after this fashion : " I don't want nry name to appear 



216 



How Strangers are Taken in. 



in it ; but I have been instructed to say this well yields 
twenty -five barrels a day. She really gives between 
twelve and fifteen, when she is pumped regularly ; but 
she has not been for the past three months. You may 
set down her actual yield, one day with another, at be- 
tween eight and ten barrels." On the lower Alleghany, I 
heard of a well lately sold, as giving thirty barrels a day ; 
the actual yield was from three to four ! Nor are snch 
deceptions and frauds infrequent ; there is reason to be- 
lieve that one-half of the transactions at buying and sell- 
ing such works, or interests in them, over the whole re- 
gion are more or less tinctured with fraud and falsehood. 

Some time since an anecdote went the rounds of the 
papers, about a well-owner near Franklin having discov- 
ered the perpetual motion in the shape of a secret tank 
and tube, which conveyed oil from his cistern back to the 
well, from which it continued to be pumped and re- 
pumped, as evidence that the property was a first-class 
concern. The man in charge of it denied to me that the 
statement had any foundation in fact; and I here give 
him the benefit of the denial, which, however, was made 
before any charge or insinuation was preferred on my 
part. The well he did not represent as doing more than 
pay working expenses. 

Some years ago a firm engaged in sinking a well on 
their premises, situated on an important tributary of Oil 
Creek. It reached the depth of seven hundred feet, " with 
an excellent show " of oil ; indeed, it pumped a quantity 
in presence of a crowd of excited spectators, and thus con- 
tributed greatly to the " development " of that " territory." 
But somehow matters went wrong ; and, in spite of favor- 
able appearances, the owners let that fount of wealth lie 



How Strangers are Taken in. 217 

still. One of them informed me, " she was never fairly 
tested," which is, I believe, the case with all unprofitable 
works of the sort. " In wine is truth," says the proverb ; 
and from one who was approaching the " highfalutin " 
state I learned that the proprietors had judiciously let 
down the contents of a few barrels, by night, into the ori- 
fice, to the great appreciation of values in that remote 
neighborhood. 

There is a story told about a smart widow who resorted 
to the same means for creating good H surface indications," 
enabling her to sell her farm at a high figure. Nature 
was, however, smarter than she ; for the first well put 
down proved highly productive — giving one hundred bar- 
rels a day, in fact. Unfortunately, all outsiders who thus 
get sold, do not fare quite so well in the long run. 

A still more bold and successful mode of misrepresenta- 
tion and swindling is by the employment of mercenary 
professors, pamphleteers, correspondents, etc., to glorify 
all that appertains to Petrolia, excepting the mud and 
perhaps the hotels, which, can be roundly abused without 
any detriment tathe oil interest. Not that every penny- 
a-liner is necessarily particeps criminis; for some have told 
the truth to the best of their knowledge, and only lacked 
time, patience, and perhaps means to remain and make 
their inquiries more thorough. Still, there is as little 
doubt that others, of the sensation class, have deliberately 
lent themselves to mystify the outside public, by dilating 
largely on the productiveness of certain first-class wells, 
while scarcely squinting at the hundred times as many 
which had been sunk and yielded nothing ; by recording 
carefully the careers of individual oil princes, while pass- 
ing by the thousands of people who had invested largely 
10 



218 How Strangers are Taken in. 

and got back nothing. Any such one-sided version is, if 
made with the design of diverting more men and more 
money to the oil region, or appreciating the value of cer- 
tain kinds of property, a crime, which should expose the 
guilty person to the severest condemnation, if there is no . 
other mode of bringing him to a sense of his wrong. 
Even the careless collection for publication of erroneous 
statistics bearing on the subject, is worthy of censure, 
though the person's motive may not have been base. A 
gossipy volume on the subject, just issued from the press, 
gives a " rough recapitulation " of the wells on Oil Creek 
actually put down at four hundred and eighty, of which 
one hundred and eighty- nine are producing wells. In 
truth, the whole number of wells on that creek, within 
four miles of Oil City, is above five hundred, and on the 
creek to Titusville, nearly two thousand. A rough enough 
recapitulation, in all conscience, but misleading the public 
as to the proportion of producing to non-producing wells. 
In another part of the same volume the writer admits that 
the ratio of paying to non-paying wells is not more than 
one in ten.* 

The fact is, that by relying principally upon official re- 
ports or the statements of interested parties, newspaper 
correspondents are as likely to be duped as other people. 
It requires not a day or two, but weeks of laborious ef- 
fort, to reach the Third Sand-Kock of Petrolia, before 

* The same looseness in the use of figures is noticeable in all parts of this 
scrap-book. In one chapter, the hills near Oil Creek are described as being 
from two hundred to one thousand feet high. There is not one height in 
the county five hundred feet above the Alleghany ! Elsewhere we read of 
derricks being one hundred feet high, and the like ! Either avoid figures 
altogether or use them accurately. 



How Strangers are Taken in. 219 

accomplishing which the visitor must gain the confidence 
of all engaged about the works — drillers, engineers, black- 
smiths, etc., as well as officials and proprietors. The im- 
pressions which I formed during the first week, although 
actively at work every day, were crude and incorrect in 
sundry particulars ; how much more if I had been most 
of the time at the finger-ends of agents and speculators, 
who, in return for courtesies shown, expected to receive 
" first-rate notices " in my next letter. 

What I blame in most persons who have attempted to 
write descriptions of the oil regions is this : The prizes 
in Petrolian lotteries are dramaticised, historicised, finan- 
cicised, statisticised to the point of weariness, if not dis- 
gust ; while scarcely so much as a passing allusion is paid 
to the tenfold more numerous blanks, which are glossed 
over without eliciting a warning note or word of advice. 
By thus concealing one side of the truth, a man commu- 
nicates to the public essential falsehood. He becomes an 
agent in the work of deception and roguery. " The whole 
truth" is as essential in giving testimony as " nothing but 
the truth." The Sherman, the Noble, the Empire, the 
Philips, the Mountain, the Reed, and other wells are familiar 
in men's lips everywhere. Not an adult male, from Maine 
to California, but has heard of their wonderful perform- 
ances, dreamed of the fabulous wealth poured by them 
into individuals' and companies' laps. But the reading 
public have not learned (the fact having been studiously 
concealed) that nine out of every ten, if not nineteen out 
of every twenty, wells sunk since 1859 have not paid 
their first cost ; and that a portion of the residue have 
done little more than return cost and operating expenses. 
The public have not been informed that the best wells 



220 How Strangers are Taken m. 

give out in time — ordinarily in eighteen months ; and that 
the copious supplies poured forth when first striking oil 
are morally certain to diminish fifty per cent within thirty 
days, and seventy -five per cent before six months. They 
have not been told that the princely fortunes acquired 
have been gained less by the hona-fide yield of petroleum 
than by speculation, which involves more or less of mis- 
representation and fraud practised upon strangers. The 
credit side of the account is glowingly depicted — its few 
millionaires ablaze with diamonds, which, unfortunately, 
make their original lack of culture only the more ridicu- 
lous ; the debit side, representing hundreds of thousands 
who have invested nearly all their surplus means, in a 
majority of cases never to be returned, is covered with a 
fly-leaf, in order that fresh batches of pilgrims may pros- 
trate themselves before the wheels of this Juggernaut. 

Nor are the men who write for our public prints alone 
to blame. The fact is, the popular taste gives character 
to the print. Many men can no more do without their 
daily sensation than topers without their morning " bit- 
ters." They would rather be gulled, cheated, victimized 
by an editor than take his paper if it be dull. They have 
their reward ! The morning paper which stands at the 
head of American sensation journals led off in the ex- 
citement about Petrolia. Thousands of its readers have 
seen their tills emptied in consequence ; but what of this, 
as long as they enjoyed the luxury of a fresh sensation ? 

There is also on the part of others a feeling of what 
may be termed shameless shame, sometimes a species of 
malicious pleasure, which, while refusing to confess hav- 
ing been victimized, enjoys the comfort of being in com- 
pany. Misery derives consolation from seeing others as 



How Strangers are Taken in. 221 

miserable as itself. Instances have not been wanting of 
persons who, having lost all in wild adventures, chuckled 
at their neighbors being also heavy losers. Hence the 
returned Petrolian, however sorely disappointed, often 
prefers placing his finger on his lip to making disclosures 
which might cause him to be laughed at. Indeed, this 
disposition to enjoy others' misfortunes is only one man- 
ifestation of the wrong complained of. 

But while the public receive one-sided versions of the 
country and its production, rash persons will always be 
found in abundance to rush to the " diggings," or to in- 
vest their surplus means in new or old oil-wells, regardless 
of the excessive royalties charged, the cost of land, labor, 
and materials. These may be double or quadruple what 
they ought to be, while petroleum may have sunk in price 
from one-third to one-half its former figure, with a new 
government duty weighing heavily upon it. What cares 
Eecklessness, young, daring, impetuous, believing in 
chance, and blinded by the glitter of Peter O'Leum's 
equipage and jewelry? He is not going to calculate prob- 
abilities, like some old fogy, but rush in and trust to luck. 
If he cuts his wisdom-teeth in Petrolia and comes back a 
more prudent man, he has scarcely just cause to regret 
having parted with all his loose change to master such a 
lesson. 

One mode by which shrewd operators contrive to fleece 
outside agents and others is this : On lands lying contig- 
uous to productive wells, called, in the jargon of the 
country, " good oil territory," they erect derricks and be- 
gin to bore, not with the direct object of reaching, pump- 
ing, and selling petroleum, but to part with interests in 
the work, as it progresses, or after completion, at extrava- 



222 How Strangers are Taken In. 

gant figures. The stranger comes along, observes the 
operations, asks the usual questions, and then reasons thus : 
u After all, I know nothing about 'surface indications,' 
or other signs by which experts can detect or infer the 
existence of oil. But yonder is the Great Greyser, yielding 
two hundred barrels per day, and here are experienced 
operators, who have invested their means in an enterprise 
promising, as they believe, an abundant return. They 
expect to strike oil before three days, and I can readily be- 
lieve them, seeing they have put their own money info 
the undertaking. They ask ten thousand dollars for a 
quarter-interest in the well, and if they only succeed, what 
is a paltry ten thousand to a company like ours ? Twenty- 
five barrels a day, at six dollars per barrel, [the estimated 
y unit of measurement' is a yield of one hundred barrels 
per diem,] would repay the cost in little more than eleven 
weeks, and all beyond will be profit. The best thing I 
can do is to accept the offer and close the bargain forth- 
with, since, after striking oil, they would not sell the in- 
terest for ten times as much." So he buys. The same 
operation is repeated by others visiting the ground, until 
perhaps scarcely a fraction of the original interest remains 
in the hands of the operators, who have meanwhile pock- 
eted several times the amount of their actual outlay. Oil 
or no oil is of the slightest consequence to them ; they 
can pull up stakes and renew the proceedings elsewhere. 
By such methods hundreds of thousands of dollars 
change hands every year in the oil regions ; and a consid- 
erable body of industrious operators, knowing precisely 
as much of the oil-veins as do the strangers thus sold, 
make fortunes in a few years. Nor is it necessary to re- 
sort to very many or very glaring falsehoods for this pur- 



Sow Strangers are Taken in. 223 

pose, because the purchasers, as a rule, have been intoxicat- 
ed before entering the valleys. Indeed a little bravado 
something like, " We don't know whether we shall cer- 
tainly get oil or not, mister. We must take our chances, 
and feel satisfied with the prospect," is often all that is 
needed as condiment to the more solid facts and figures 
derivable from the history of other wells. ' 

In describing the swindling operations or sharp practice 
resorted to in the oil regions, it would be a glaring over- 
sight to omit mention of those perpetrated by engineers 
(civil and uncivil) who have visited that country, bought 
lands, leased lands, or secured the refusal of lands for a 
time, and then gone East or West to organize companies 
for "developing" their "territory." Mr. C. E. visits his 
sweet native village or city, taking care to announce his 
advent in advance, and giving rumor sufficient hints that 
he has made his " pile," to insure a sufficiently favorable 
reception. This impression he confirms * rather by innu- 
endoes than by positive assertions such as might bring him 
into too close contact with internal-revenue agents ; much 
less does he explain the modes by which he has accom- 
plished his great work, lest it might offend the more fas- 
tidiously honest. He has maps of the country to exhibit 
for nothing, the places where he proposes to operate being 
marked in blue and gold. He explains gratuitously how 
beautifully they line in to A. B.'s " territory," from which 
hundreds of barrels of oil are taken every day, and of 
which a one-sixteenth interest sold for thirty thousand 
dollars the other week ; how trifling is the cost compared 
with "territory" purchased by other companies in the 
same neighborhood ; how he is ready to organize a stock 
company, with two hundred and fifty thousand dollars 



224 How Strangers are Taken in. 

capital, and then put down twenty wells the ensuing sum- 
mer. He has taken care to procure the names of two or 
three prominent men as president and directors — men who 
have probably no more practical knowledge of the busi- 
ness than they have of whale-fishing, but will leave the 
entire management in his own hands. The shares are put 
at figures sufficiently low to be taken by every housemaid 
in the place ; and besides this, it is announced that only a 
nominal sum will be called for upon each share taken. 
The project takes, of course ; for men, whether in cities 
or villages, are gullible beings. The scheme is largely 
advertised in the local papers, and receives the usual 
" first-rate notices," as what scheme with money in it will 
not ? Shares are freely distributed among friends of the 
management and others, whose countenance may be judg- 
ed necessary to the success of the project. [The outside 
world, and even ordinary stockholders, know nothing 
about the science of " watering" stocks.] In the mean 
time, C. E., Esq., who bought the tract at two hundred 
and fifty dollars per acre, or the right of refusal for fifteen 
hundred dollars, has disposed of it to the new company 
at twenty-five hundred dollars per acre, "besides retaining 
for himself a comfortable berth as an officer on the ground. 
He ought to have cleared one hundred thousand dollars 
by the transaction, or he has sold the company " dirt 
cheap." Should any of the other officials visit the prop- 
erty, they may find it to consist of a narrow strip of bot- 
tom-land or ravine, the residue being mountain, from 
which the prospect of every thing except oil is entrancing. 
If this company-maker be not a civil engineer, but a 
retired oil-prince, who has " made money enough," and 
has no ambition to operate further, except with the laud- 



Row Strangers are Taken in. 225 

able intention of benefiting his less affluent neighbors — 
he having a dash of benevolence in his mental composi- 
tion — his success in procuring subscriptions maj with 
certainty be predicted. For he has broad acres, a costly 
establishment, a gorgeous equipage, a bank-book, a be- 
jeweled wife, to produce as proofs that Petrolia is no hum- 
bug, but a magnificent reality. And it may be added, 
neither is dealing in lottery policies to those who follow 
the avocation. Millions of money await his word of com- 
mand. Thousands of fortune-hunters esteem it a favor to 
be by the great Fortunatus relieved of their greenbacks. 
To insinuate that he would take advantage of them by 
selling them mountain lands or pocketing fifty thousand 
dollars for his services— -faugh ! 

An acquaintance of mine was once strolling through 
the heart of Petrolia, seeing what he could see. Stopping 
at a well, he inquired of a man who appeared to be pro- 
prietor its ordinary yield, and was told twenty barrels a 
day. The owner having got the impression that the other 
was a correspondent, addressed him thus : " I want to sell 
her ; and if you'll give her such a notice in the paper as 

will bring me a customer at dollars, I will give 

you per cent for your share. . . You won't ? 

Well, what will you take ?" If he had not understood 
the profession to be venal, would he have made the pro- 
position so barefacedly, knowing that its actual yield was 
less than one-half of the quantity stated ? 

In rating the productiveness of wells there is apt to be 
so much exaggeration that the initiated invariably reduce 
the figures given, in answer to such inquiries, one-third 
or one-half, sometimes even two-thirds. In falsifying, 
however, some regard is paid to the semblance of truth, 
10* 



226 How Strangers are Taken in. 

in order probably to avoid legal proceedings afterward. 
On this account, what wears the mask of veracity is 
more dangerous than glaring falsehood. Thus, the term 
" yield," in speaking of a well, may comprise brine as 
well as oil, the proportions of each to each ranging from 
one to ninety-nine per cent. Now, it is exceedingly dif- 
ficult for a new-comer to estimate accurately the ratio of 
water to pure petroleum, and the matter is likely enough 
to escape his notice altogether. Again, it happens some- 
times that a well is suffered to remain idle a day or a week, 
at the end of which it is pumped out, and " rated " at the 
product for that day. To an inquiry as to what it is doing, 
the stranger is carelessly told : " Yesterday, when we 
tested her, she gave forty-five barrels." Its average pro- 
duct may not be ten. A less transparent mode of swind- 
ling is not to test its actual yield at all, when on the de- 
cline, but to rate it at what it was in its palmiest days, 
using the conveniently loose phrase : " She's a two hun- 
dred barrel well." In the absence of a recent and accu- 
rate test, the person in search of information may certain- 
ly infer that a decline has set in, otherwise the telegraph 
would have kept talking about the Big Squirt, within the 
last forty-eight hours. The maxim that silence gives con- 
sent must be interpreted by the rule of contraries in the 
oil regions. 

If I have thus exposed certain of the less notorious ar- 
tifices by which the unsuspecting, and even some of the 
most wary, are fleeced, it is not with the design of war- 
ring on Petrolia or its master-spirits, much less retarding 
its prosperity in future. For it is indisputable that no 
well will sympathize with its owners' reputation merely 
to the extent of one pint in seven years. And the abid- 



How Strangers are Taken in. 227 

ing prosperity of that section of country, with, the true 
welfare of its population, will be promoted, not damaged, 
by putting a stop to the devices by which unsuspecting 
men and women, even widows and orphans, are stripped, 
and scalped, and flayed, and picked to the bone by a gen- 
eration of sharpers. These of right no more constitute 
the people of Petrolia than did the slave-owning aristo- 
cracy of Dixie constitute "the South." Whether the acre 
of land shall sell for five hundred or five thousand dol- 
lars matters nothing to the aggregate production of oil ; 
and ultimately this production is likely rather to increase 
than to fall off from an exposure of how strangers are 
taken in. 



CHAPTER IX. 

OUGHT I TO INVEST IN PETROLIA, AND HOW ? 



At last we have obtained, in the shape of facts and 
figures, something definite, tangible, trustworthy, as to the 
productiveness of the Pennsylvania oil region. In the 
month of April the wells actually yielded eight thousand 
eight hundred and fifty barrels per day, which is equiva- 
ent to three millions of barrels a year — to be increased at 
least half a million by additions during the spring months. 
I have no hesitation in asserting that the production for 
1865 promises to be aearer four millions than three ; and, 
indeed, may amount to all of the former figure. But 
without speculating too much as to the future, let us pro- 
ceed to reckon up values upon facts as they are. 

During the past five years the price of petroleum at the 
wells has ranged from ten cents to thirteen dollars and 
fifty cents per barrel. In the latter part of 1861, owing 
to the outbreak of a large number of flowing wells, bring- 
ing the supply suddenly up from one hundred and fifty 
to three thousand or four thousand barrels per day, the 
market value sunk so low that the cost of the barrel ex- 
ceeded that of its contents ; indeed, for illuminating oil, 
twenty -five cents per barrel was thought a high figure. 
This extraordinary cheapness had the effect of forcing the 
article into all parts of the country open to domestic trade, 



Ought I to Invest in .Petrolia, and How f 229 

and even into Europe, where a large demand sprang up. 
In 1862 there was a considerable improvement in prices, 
but in the spring of 1863 they again receded from ten 
dollars to thirty or forty cents per barrel, in consequence 
of large numbers of flowing wells beginning to pour 
forth their liquid treasures. From that time an advance 
took place, and continued steadily till the middle of last 
winter, when it stopped ftt thirteen dollars and fifty cents. 
Yarious causes, the principal of which was a panic in the 
money-market, made prices again recede ; and in April 
illuminating oil sold for only three dollars per barrel at 
the wells. Since then the movement has been slowly 
but gradually upward. 

I shall assume, then, that during this period the average 
price has been midway between the extremes, namely, ten 
cents and thirteen dollars and fifty cents, which would 
be equivalent to six dollars and eighty cents* per barrel. 
The times in which it has been below that figure will not 
be found to differ materially in duration from those in 
which it has been above. As a rule, producers dispose of 
their oil from week to week, their tankage being insuffi- 
cient to retain quantities for a long time on hand. Be- 
sides, the danger from fire and flood is such that if it 
were possible to hoard up, it would not be- judged advis- 
able. 

Taking this as a standard, then, it will be seen that the 

* Perhaps an extra allowance of one or two cents per barrel should be 
made for the higher price paid for lubricating oil on French Creek, and a 
small section of the Alleghany. But as the entire product of this quality 
has probably never gone up to one hundred and fifty barrels per day, and is 
now under one hundred, it was not thought worth while to take the differ- 
ence into account, the values being only approximations to the actual fig 
ures. 



230 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 

actual yield in April was worth the sum of sixty thousand 
one hundred and eighty dollars per day, or twenty mil- 
lion four hundred and sixty-one thousand three hundred 
dollars per annum. Taking into account the net increase 
to be made during the spring months, the gross receipts 
of Petrolia, from oil only, during the year, would amount 
to twenty -three million eight hundred thousand dollars, 
and may run up, in 1865, to twenty-five millions. 

So much for the crude article, delivered at the works ; 
but it is manifest that the additional value given by re- 
fining the oil, and the cost of barrels, transportation, stor- 
age, and the like, enter into the regular, legitimate re- 
ceipts of the Petrolians from this product. Ten millions of 
dollars would not be a too liberal estimate for all these 
services, making the yearly receipts from the oil business 
between thirty and thirty-five millions of dollars. 

But in truth this has not been its principal source of 
income at some times. For the enormous profits realized 
by land speculators, during periods of excitement, such as 
prevailed last winter ; the flood of strangers pouring into 
the valleys from every direction, with the mechanics and 
laborers seeking employment — all spending money lav- 
ishly, and most of it remaining in that country as profits 
— have added almost incalculable sums to the vast aggre- 
gate given above ; and making the grand total, one year 
with another, probably not far from fifty millions of dol- 
lars per annum — a sum equal to the receipts of the gene- 
ral government twenty years ago. 

Up to this time the most diverse as well as extravagant 
estimates of the productions of Petrolia have been set 
afloat by writers, who seemed to have adopted the maxim, 
in such matters: "Guess at half the amount and then 






Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How ? 231 

multiply by two !" One of these " authorities" puts the 
production of 1865 at the modest sum of seventy -five mil- 
lion dollars, of which probably not more than two million 
dollars will be paid out as working expenses ! It is patent 
that he has never been within one hundred miles of the 
country, or that he is doing his best to mislead the public. 
In accordance with these magnificent calculations, he sets 
down the capital invested in petroleum wells, lands, etc., 
at four hundred and fifty million dollars. It might just 
as correctly have been set down at a round billion, which 
would have been still more easily remembered. Every 
person knows that the nominal capital of most companies 
affords no index to the money actually paid in, making 
no allowance for the shares distributed among " friends at 
court," in order to secure their influence or their names 
as officers. If the profits, both gross and net, have been 
magnified out of all just proportion, there can be no doubt 
that the estimated amount of capital invested has gone 
through a like process. " The annual amount of the oil- 
product from the old wells," he goes on to say, "is suffi- 
cient to pay over twelve per cent per annum on the aggre- 
gate total of four hundred and fifty million dollars, esti- 
mated nominal capital invested in the business." I have 
no patience in reading such stuff, and shall not weary the 
reader's patience in attempting to refute it. 

The Philadelphia Board of Trade, in their annual re- 
port for 1864, estimate the value of the product of petro- 
leum for that year at forty-six million nine hundred and 
nineteen thousand four hundred and thirty dollars, or only 
sixteen per cent less than that of the iron product of the 
state, and two-thirds of the value of the coal-product. A 
decided drawback on these figures is that the learned 



232 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 

statistician omitted the odd cents ! The former writer 
guessed the product, and multiplied it by three ; the latter 
stopped with doubling the figures ! 

Number Three steps forward, and gravely announces 
that all those estimates are huge exaggerations, the yield 
being now not more than six thousand barrels per day, 
against ten thousand or twelve thousand in 1862. This 
would make the annual value of petroleum at the wells 
amount to thirteen million seven hundred and ninety 
thousand four hundred dollars, or a little more than one- 
sixth of the first estimate ! Even if we add fifty per cent 
for refining, transporting, etc., the total would be only 
twenty and a half millions, minus the operating expenses, 
government taxes, and the cost of replacement. 

I have no means of estimating the productions of for- 
mer years, and hence institute no comparisons as to in- 
crease or decrease. I am, however, fully satisfied that no 
such falling off (forty to fifty per cent) has taken place as 
is represented, and perhaps no falling off at all. Indeed, 
considering the veins opened on Cherry Run, in 1864, it 
would seem that there must ha\re been rather a gain than 
a loss. The tables of exportation, at all events, do not 
warrant the belief that there has been a decrease. In 
1862 the number of gallons of the oil-product, including 
crude, refined, and naphtha, was ten million three hun- 
dred and eighty-seven thousand seven hundred and one ; 
in 1863, twenty-eight million two hundred and fifty thou- 
sand seven hundred and twenty-one ; and in 1864, thirty- 
one million seven hundred and ninety-two thousand nine 
hundred and seventy-two. From the single port of New- 
York alone last year were exported five hundred and 
thirty-three thousand three hundred and ninety -four bar- 



Ought I to Invest in JPetrolia, and Sow f 233 

rels, against four hundred and eighty-eight thousand six 
hundred and ninety the preceding year; and from all 
other ports, two hundred and sixty-one thousand three 
hundred and nineteen, against two hundred and seventeen 
thousand five hundred and seventy-six barrels in 1863. 
There is no likelihood that the exportations of 1865 will 
fall behind those*of last year, but the reverse ; while the 
home consumption will certainly be on the increase. 
With these data before us, and the knowledge that a 
heavy fall in the price of petroleum has taken place this 
season, we may dismiss all fears about a diminished yield 
having already begun. 

The statements given above show what a degree of 
looseness has hitherto prevailed in making calculations 
of incomes, profits, business prospects, and the like. In 
fact, every thing has been conducted in the most reck- 
less, hap-hazard manner imaginable, as if it were as diffi- 
cult to arrive at the actual statistics of production as it is 
to strike an oil- vein from superficial examinations only. 
The author of Derrick and Drill — a volume which, what- 
ever the slovenliness of its arrangement, was manifestly 
not written with a view to deceive — assumes that there 
are " no reliable statistics," and gives up the attempt to 
discover the truth in despair. 

While I have estimated the actual receipts of Petrolia, 
from the oil business only, at between thirty million and 
thirty-five million dollars a year, and those arising from the 
sale of crude oil at the wells, at twenty million five hundred 
thousand dollars, with a probable increase to nearly twenty- 
four million dollars, it will not do to reckon this as such 
a rate per cent of dividend on so much capital invested. 
For, first, there must be deducted therefrom working ex- 



234 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How ? 

penses ; and, second, an amount sufficing to constitute a 
renewal fund — that is, to replace the old well when it 
gives out, by a new one equally productive. Thirdly, 
there is the government tax of one dollar per barrel. 
These matters have never been reduced to any thing like 
a system ; and I am well aware that, in attempting to dis- 
cuss them here. I am rather opening questions than set- 
tling them. To arrive at accuracy in the matter, twelve 
months' examination of the country and the history of its 
wells would be requisite. 

Of the whole number of works on my list, (three hun- 
dred and twelve) only fifty-two are marked as flowing 
wells. I have not been sufficiently careful in every case 
to mark the distinction on my memorandum-books, but 
am positive that the total of these "institutions " is under 
seventy, and believe it to be less than sixty. 

Let us assume, then, the last as the actual number. 
This would leave, at the time of my visit, the number of 
pumping wells yielding oil at about two hundred and fifty. 
But to this should be added those undergoing repairs and 
those exhausting the water — at least one hundred in all, 
and making three hundred and fifty requiring fuel, 
repairs, and wages for attendance. 

Here again, however, we confront " the law of lawless- 
ness," a few of those wells running night and day, some 
seven days in the week, others using their own gas as 
fuel, several engines pumping two wells, while others per- 
form their work in three or four hours per day. Taking 
these and other irregularities into account, it will be seen 
that, to arrive at an accurate estimate of average working 
expenses would involve no small amount of time and 
labor, to say nothing of the outlay. But an approxima- 



Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 235 

tive estimate to each well of seven dollars per day for fuel, 
and fourteen dollars for superintendence, wages, and re- 
pairs, or one hundred and twenty-five dollars per week 
for each paying well, will not 'be found very wide of the 
mark. This sum, multiplied by three hundred and fifty, 
the number of pumping concerns, will give as the total 
working expenses — two million two hundred and seventy- 
five thousand dollars, to which should be added (say) two 
hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for superin- 
tendence, wages, and repairs to the flowing wells, and 
making the aggregate outlays for operating expenses, two 
millions and a half of dollars. 

The next item to be taken into account is wear and tear 
or the replacing of exhausted wells, as they give out, by 
new ones. Here again a number of circumstances must 
be taken into account, not likely to be noticed by the un- 
initiated. In the first place, numbers of wells in operation 
are not paying their way, but kept going either with the 
expectation of finding purchasers, or that they may turn 
out better in time to come. Thus, the one which has 
been three years in operation, and is now producing only 
as many barrels of common oil daily, even if pumped 
every day from January to December, is unprofitable, and 
might better have been abandoned long ago. It will not 
do to put down three years as the period of its produc- 
tiveness, but only that in which it actually earned a profit 
above working expenses. 

The prevalent idea that wells can be " rejuvenated " or 
" resuscitated," so as to be nearly as good as new, is es- 
sentially a mistaken one. The Sherman, at one time flow- 
ing fifteen hundred barrels per day, has been resuscitated, 
by the blower, to the grade of fifty or sixty barrels. The 



236 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How ? 

blower and the pump have both failed to rejuvenate the 
Noble. The great Philips is no longer Philips drunk, 
but Philips sober, pumping fifty barrels instead of flowing 
nearly four thousand. How long even this may continue, 
is simply matter of conjecture. The best of wells, after 
deepening, re-reaming, and using every known appliance 
to force up the oil, have failed to become even second- 
class concerns. Their sources of supply are manifestly 
rather the leakings and oozings out of thousands of little 
crevices in the subterranean world than the fountains 
which leaped upward so impetuously when first tapped. 

From the best information accessible, I am led to esti- 
mate the average period of a good well's productiveness 
at eighteen months. In a majority of instances the re- 
pairing and tinkering done after that date does not pay. 
In any case the purchaser should be careful not to accept 
the first day or two's yield thereafter as evidence of what 
it will be on the average. Now, to reach one productive 
source, with all the knowledge that has been gathered, it 
is necessary to put down five wells. Some persons say 
that one-fourth of those now sunk become profitable ; but 
taking the entire oil region, I am within the mark in set- 
ting down the ratio at one in five. Now, assuming that 
machinery has only to be provided for the first, and that 
the depth will be five hundred feet, the cost of re- 
newals will amount to twenty-five thousand dollars. This, 
multiplied by four hundred, the number of works already 
or prospectively yielding, would require an outlay, every 
eighteen months, often million dollars. I do not see how 
this heavy drawback can be safely reduced below five mil- 
lions of dollars per annum, which would imply renewal 
only once in two years. In point of fact, the newly in- 



Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How ? 237 

vested capital in the oil region is used to replace the old 
works as thej give out, much of the original capital hav- 
ing disappeared for eyer, either as unearned dividends, or 
gone to the wrong side of the profit and loss account. 

Lastly, we have the government tax of one dollar per 
barrel on crude petroleum. There is a short and easy 
method of arriving at the amount of that : If the yield for 
1865 be three million five hundred thousand barrels, the 
excise duty will amount to precisely three millions and a 
half of dollars. 

We are now in a position to cast up the account, as 
follows : 

Value of the crude oil at the wells, (say,) $24,000,000 

Operating expenses, $2,500,000 

Cost of replacing works, 5,000,000 

Government excise, 3,500,000 11,000,000 

Net profit, (^say,) $13,000,000 

This would pay seven per cent per annum, on a bona- 
fide capital of one hundred and eighty-five million seven 
hundred and fourteen thousand dollars. 

The political and commercial aspects of the subject re- 
main to be considered, and to these I propose to devote a 
few words only. 

Had the demand for American breadstuffs in Europe 
continued, during 1863 and 1864, as active as during the 
two previous years, it appears to me very questionable 
whether the diversion of so much capital and labor from 
the fields to the oil regions would have proved beneficial 
to us as a nation, in keeping our exports at about an 
equilibrium with our imports. It is not probable that the 
receipts, in currency or its equivalent, amounted to 
twenty-five million dollars last year, for crude and refined 



Ought I to Invest in jPetrolia, and How 

oil, naphtha, or other products of petroleum. As a people, 
we would have been quite as much enriched by twenty- 
five millions or its equivalent in return for wheat, flour, 
or corn, cotton, tobacco, or rice, as for petroleum, and no 
more. But it happened, very fortunately for us, as re- 
spects our trade with foreign countries, that about the 
time when the demand for breadstuff's fell off, petroleum 
found its way into market. By exporting it in such quan- 
tities, our government was enabled to make extensive 
purchases of war material abroad, without exporting the 
precious metals in such quantity as might .have generated 
a panic at home, and thus haye brought its own credit 
into disrepute at the moment when the scale began to 
turn decisively against the rebellion. As an instrument 
for buoying up the hopes of the people during a most ter- 
rible crisis, I view its effects as much more advantageous 
than in the mere money value of the exported article. 
For it is a serious matter to withdraw thousands of work- 
ers from the field and the shop, at a time when all pro- 
ducts are selling for two or three prices — partly, it is true, 
through currency derangements, but partly also from the 
fact of such a diminished supply of the necessaries of life 
offering, that speculators are enabled to buy and hoard 
them up, compelling the government to pay largely in- 
creased prices, and thus heap up the aggregate of national 
indebtedness. 

The total exports of this article in its several conditions, 
during the last three years, were as follows : 

YEAR. GALLONS. 

1862, 10,387,701 

1863, 28,250,721 

1864, 31,792,972 

Total, 70,431,394 



Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 239 

The quantities of crude oil and naphtha were compara- 
tively small. If we average the price last year at sixty 
cents, the product will be nineteen million seventy-five 
thousand seven hundred and eighty -three dollars. If we 
take the whole seventy million four hundred and thirty- one 
thousand three hundred and ninety-four at the same rate, 
the product will be forty-two million two hundred and 
fifty-eight thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight dollars 
— a respectable amount certainly, yet a moderate percent* 
age on our entire exports during the past three years. 

The amount of government revenue on crude oil for 
the year ending March 31, 1866, 1 have estimated at three 
million five hundred thousand dollars, on the assumptions, 
first, that the yield of the new wells will equal the decline 
on old ones ; and, second, that the correct figures will be 
returned in to the government agents. That at many 
works the owners or managers will resort to every species 
of device to avoid payment of the heavy and almost op- 
pressive impost, is what every person intimately acquainted 
with life and manners there will naturally expect. If, 
however, the officers experience any trouble, or have rea- 
son to believe that misrepresentations have been made, a 
very simple and efficient remedy offers itself. Publish 

THE FIGUKES OF EACH WELL EVEEY MONTH ! It would 

be a terrible infliction, but one richly deserved. While 
essentially right and fair in itself, the measure would 
purify the stifling atmosphere of Petrolia, and for that 
matter, that of the whole country. Weak-kneed interests 
would growl over it more than the imposition of one dol- 
lar per barrel of tax ; but the people at large would be 
greatly benefited through the instruction thus received. 
That the wells in process of sinking will yield enough 



240 Ought I to Invest in JPetrolia, and How f 

to make the supply keep up with what it now is, I have 
no manner of doubt. The prospect for 1865 is, that they 
will do considerably more than this; for 1866, that they 
will at least equal it ; beyond that year it is not advisable 
to venture on calculations or estimates of production in a 
field where the law of lawlessness has all along prevailed. 

If we add to the revenue to be derived on crude oil, that 
which is already being received upon the refined article, 
(twenty cents per gallon,) the aggregate receipts into the 
United States Treasury cannot fall below twenty million 
dollars, and may amount to twenty-five millions, during 
the twelve months stated. Of course, all this comes out 
of the pockets of the American people as consumers ; yet 
there is perhaps no other source, yielding so much rev- 
enue, where the load would be felt less oppressive than 
on this article, as is manifest from the fact that petroleum 
not only maintains its sway, in spite of these heavy im- 
positions, but is extending it in every direction. 

It may be observed here that, by the present law, the 
greater portion of the lubricating oil nearly escapes taxa- 
tion, the excise duty of one dollar per barrel on the 
crude article being barely three per cent on the selling 
value at the wells. As most of it is used in that condi- 
tion, it is manifest that the revenue suffers a considerable 
loss, or else the imposition is too heavy on the illuminat- 
ing kind. A thorough revision of the whole subject is 
one of the first matters to which Congress should give its 
attention. 

I have been asked, scores of times, whether petroleum 
is likely to be found elsewhere, particularly on the great 
slope east of the Alleghanies. Where the most distin- 
guished savans have been found at fault, the discovery 



Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 241 

marking a new era in geological science, the mere learner 
may well be excused from taking his finger from his lips 
until experiments have settled the question. I shall, how- 
ever, venture a few opinions, which may be taken for 
what they are worth. In the first place, then, those great 
divisions of the secondary formation, known as the Cam- 
brian, the Devonian, the Silurian, and the carboniferous, 
are not known to exist east of the Blue Eidge from Vir- 
ginia to New- York. The Silurian and the Devonian 
abound in North-western New-Jersey and that portion of 
Pennsylvania on the opposite side of the Delaware. Sec- 
ond, the groups known as the Chemung and. Portage 
rocks, (the former composed of highly fossiliferous shales 
with thin-bedded sandstones, and the latter of flag-stones 
and shales,) which abound in the oil regions above the 
river-beds, send only a small arm into the eastern part of 
New-York, touching the Hudson near Catskill. With 
that exception, there exists none of these groups east of 
the head-waters of the Delaware. Third, sufficient infor- 
mation has not yet been obtained respecting the inferior 
sand-rocks of Yenango county in which oil is obtained, 
whether to identify them with the Onondaga, the Helder- 
berg, the Hamilton, the Clinton or the Medina group, all 
coming to the surface in "Western New-York ; but it seems 
probable that the oil-bearing rock extends a considerable 
distance in that direction, and may enter the Empire State 
from the south-west. A much better guide, however, 
will be to get large fragments of the second, third, or fourth 
sand-rocks from below, and compare these with rocks near 
the surface in New- York, than to trust to mere surface 
resemblances or dislocations, which are of no account 
whatever. Fourth, we know that the sand-rocks of West- 
' 11 



242 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 

Virginia, as also those of Eastern Kentucky and Eastern 
Ohio, yield petroleum at the average elevation of fifteen 
hundred or two thousand feet, geologically, above the oil- 
bearing measures of Venango county. How far beyond 
Kentucky or how far west of Ohio this liquid may be 
discovered, time alone will show ; but it seems likely 
enough to be obtained in parts of Tennessee, Alabama, 
and a very considerable portion of the North-west. Fifth, 
it is certain that the sandstones and shales of New-Jersey 
and the sandstones of Connecticut have no sort of affinity 
with those of "Western Pennsylvania, where the shales are 
principally of clay and full of fossils, and the sandstones 
or conglomerates are more or less fossiliferous and ar- 
ranged in thin layers, with hardly a perceptible inclina- 
tion. Sixth, I think it will be found that the true source 
of petroleum is not the sandstone or arenaceous limestone, 
but the shales which are in places bituminous and in 
places petroleous, (to coin a word.) By what particular 
process the carbon, originally mixed with the clay-beds, 
(now shales,) was distilled into oil and gas, and then in- 
jected into the crevices of the harder rocks above, I do 
not pretend to know ; and possibly it will never be known 
until deep shafts have been sunk to the depth of one 
thousand or fifteen hundred feet. 

But of one thing we may rest assured, namely, that 
there is quite as good a chance of striking a rich deposit 
of Orange county milk, or even butter and cheese, at any 
point east of the Blue Eidge in Virginia, Maryland, Penn- 
sylvania, New- Jersey, and New- York, as in opening a 
ten-barrel vein of petroleum. There is abundance of 
wealth in the mountains and valleys of that section, be- 
sides rock-oil : but as the old-fashioned article does not 



Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 243 

possess the charm of novelty, nor even that of distance, 
to "lend enchantment to the view," it is despised. The 
millions of money which, if judiciously invested there, 
might double themselves in a few years, are transported 
to Western Pennsylvania and West-Virginia, to add to 
the intoxication already too prevalent, and come back — if 
in hundreds of thousands, the owners will have good 
cause to bless their stars. 

Men's theories, as openly avowed, are apt to be modi- 
fied by their interests, and their calculations as to the 
future by their theories. Hence it is found that the natu- 
rally sanguine and the mercenary advocate the notion 
that, in the great laboratories of Nature, chemical and 
mechanical agencies are at work, by which petroleum is 
constantly generated, and hence that there need be no 
fear of exhaustion. They point to Babylonia, Birmah, 
and Trinidad as proofs ; but it is manifest that Petrolia 
does not adopt the fashions set abroad ; and indeed does 
not follow any set fashion, either at home or abroad. It 
recognizes no rule, no precedent ; but follows its own 
strong, wild impulses from day to day. That argument, 
therefore, will be found very childish against the hard 
fact that hundreds and thousands of wells have already 
dried up, and cannot be made to reproduce oil; though 
salt brine flows profusely enough. Attribute this falling 
off to the lack of gas or of pressure from above, as we may, 
the painful truth forces itself upon our understandings, 
that petroleum is not there, and cannot be coaxed, wheedled, 
or forced to the surface, for the best of reasons. 

On the other hand, I think, they err who hold that be- 
cause individual wells have ceased to yield, therefore the 
production of petroleum is likely to stop, one of these days, 



244 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 

as suddenly as it began. Facts show that the area of oil- 
bearing territory is not confined to the " pent-up Utica " of 
any creek or river bottom. A careful examination of the 
country shows, further, that the bottoms, as such, have no 
connection whatever with the deposition of oil ; though 
they have had some with its discovery. But, making al- 
lowance for the greater cost of boring in the first place, 
and of operating expenses, in the second, I have no doubt 
that the hills will yield as freely as the low-lands. So 
believing, I have so taught. My mind has neither been 
influenced by the fear of a sudden cessation, nor the be- 
lief of a constant creation of oil to any great extent. 
Petrolia has not appeared to me in rainbow-hues, as 
viewed from a distance ; nor a gray, drizzly mass, as 
viewed from within. "With land and labor at reasonable 
rates, it is likely enough to be good for seven per cent per 
annum — perhaps even ten ; though if I were a stranger, 
I should decidedly prefer a United States seven-thirty 
bond. 

"Then you maintain," say some readers, " that it is 
foolish to invest a dollar in oil stocks, to sink a well, or to 
organize a company with a view to the further develop- 
ment of that region. For if the business be in many 
cases a swindle, a system of deception and falsehood,, as 
you represent, and but a poor affair at the best, no pru- 
dent man will have any thing to do with it, except to get 
out of it as quickly as possible." 

As at present carried on by many, I have no hesitation ' 
in pronouncing the enterprise a gigantic system of wrong ; 
but surely this is no reason why good and bad interests, 
honorable and dishonorable men, should suffer together. 
Nay, it should be the desire of every individual and every 



Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 245 

company conducting business in a straightforward man- 
ner, to have the villainies of their unprincipled neighbors 
exposed. The sooner this is done the better for them- 
selves and the community. For it is as certain as sun- 
light that roguery will be. detected some day; and the 
longer that is put off, its consequences will reach the fur- 
ther, so many more persons will be involved in the guilt, 
so much less rigid will be public sentiment as to right and 
wrong. The reaction which set in with this spring freshet 
might perhaps have been put off by some newly organ- 
ized method of deception ; but with a shoal of fresh for- 
tune-hunters sent into the oil region, mostly to return 
minus the contents of their pocket-books and their bal- 
ances at bank, a fresh and deeper outburst of indignation 
would have arisen against Petrolia and all connected with 
it. It is for the salvation of what is genuine in that 
country that I have made some of these exposures. It 
may disarrange the calculations of some, who have ex- 
pected that " to-morrow would be as this day, but more 
abundant ;" but it is one of the punishments of injustice 
that the pillars upholding it are liable to be knocked away, 
and the edifice to tumble into ruin at any moment — al- 
ways the wrong moment, of course. Samson is not to be 
blamed for tugging at the pillars of the temple ; but let 
the gaping and jubilant Philistines on its roof look out 
for their personal safety. 

Every enterprise that proved pecuniarily profitable at 
first has been almost ridden to death by knaves or fools 
for a time. Look at the history of the railroad interest, 
both in Great Britain and this country; at telegraphs, 
commerce, manufactures, even agriculture. In all a few 
sagacious individuals have originally done well, on learn- 



246 Ought I to Invest in Petrolic and How f 

ing which excitements have sprung up, and for a season 
it looked as if all creation were rushing in that direction. 
The American mind is peculiarly subject to these financial 
whirlwinds. Keady enough to suspect sordid motives in 
others, it puts the same implicit faith in its frothy news- 
paper articles or letters, as if it never had been misguided 
by those so-called leaders of public opinion. He is not 
the people's friend who fails to point out this liability to 
go wrong as well as right, by rushing in droves toward 
some common object. 

As a rule, the judicious will suspect the existence of 
danger in whatever direction the crowd is driving. If in 
politics, it is likely to be impelled too far and too violent- 
ly by leaders, who are often selfish, or who have let 
passion get the better of their judgment. If in any par- 
ticular department of industry, it is likely so to glut the 
market that prices will fall to ruinous figures, leaving 
bankruptcy to restore the equilibrium between supply 
and demand. On two occasions only will the most saga- 
cious financial boatman dip in his oar — when an enter- 
prise is in its incipiency, and he foresees with certainty 
that it will be profitable ; or after a general collapse, when 
fragments of the wreck can be gathered cheaply, and wis- 
dom can be learned from the misfortunes of others. The 
intermediate stage, when the public mind is at fever-heat 
with high expectations, is one that ought to be selected 
for selling out and retiring from active participation. Of 
course, every man cannot act thus ; but if a number of 
sensible men should do so, the step would have a most 
salutary effect in checking the blind rush of the thought- 
less multitude. 

Now, on three different occasions Petrolia has passed 






Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 217 

through this process — before the great downfall in the 
price of oil, in the autumn of 1861, in the spring of 1863, 
and that of 1865. Previous to each of these lapses nu- 
merous operators had made fortunes, which turned the 
brain of the community. A strife sprang up as to who 
could first " stake a claim " in this new El Dorado, which 
as far surpassed California as the Golden State did the 
land of steady habits. The market was, presently or 
prospectively, glutted, and down tumbled prices — at two 
of these epochs to a ruinous degree. Multitudes of wells 
were thrown up in disgust, and a general exodus of pop- 
ulation took place. This refluent wave has not been so 
great the present year, and will not be so great hereafter, 
because the demand for the article has immensely increas- 
ed, and the business of boring for it has become one of 
the permanent interests of the country. At the same 
time, in proportion to its permanence, and the decrease of 
great fluctuations in price, its profitableness as a whole is 
reduced to a common level with all other legitimate en- 
terprises. There is no escape from this social 'law, either 
in or out of Petrolia. Great fluctuations — great profits — 
great losses — great risks — and, it may be added, great im- 
morality. Per contra. Increased demand— less risk — 
less profit or loss — less immorality in conducting it. 

I may be told that this is altogether too sombre a view 
of an enterprise which has enriched and is now enriching 
thousands ; which turned the rate of exchange in our 
favor, while a most expensive war was being waged ; 
which promises to be like the widow's cruse, when the 
prophet directed her to go and pay what she owed and 
live, she and her son, with the residue ; which came pro- 
videntially, if not miraculously, to aid us in throttling the 



248 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 

great rebellion. For the good that it has accomplished, I 
feel grateful. In the long run, one well the less will not 
be put down from an exposure of the frauds perpetrated 
by those concerned in it, nor will a gallon the less be ex- 
ported. The country as such has nothing to fear from the 
truth, whatever those engaged in the work of deception 
may have. As to the enriching of individuals, a very 
pertinent inquiry arises — How much of that wealth is due 
to legitimate enterprise in raising petroleum, and how 
much in speculating in land, or taking advantage in some 
way of others' necessities ? It has always been the boast. 
of wrong to get its dividends first ! 

"But there are large companies," I may be told, " which 
have paid as dividends two, five, nay, ten times the amount 
of capital stock paid in. What will you say to them V* 
And here occurs an account of the Columbia Oil Company 
of Pittsburgh, which will serve as an illustration of per- 
haps a dozen others. The facts are taken from the Trade 
Circular : " The Columbia Oil Company was originally a 
firm, under the style of Kitchie, Hardie & Co., consisting 
of seven persons, who purchased the Story farm, contain- 
ing nearly five hundred acres, at the outburst of the pe- 
troleum excitement in Yenango county, for a few thousand 
dollars. In 1862 the company was organized, and pur- 
chased the Story farm from the firm of Eitchie, Hardie 
& Company for one hundred and twenty-eight thousand 
dollars. The company was organized with a capital of 
two hundred thousand dollars, divided into ten thousand 
shares of the par value of twenty dollars each. These shares 
sold in the market, during 1862, for from two to ten dol- 
lars. The shares gradually increased in value until, in 
March, 1864, they were worth one hundred and twenty- 



Ought I to Invest in Pebrolia, and How f 249 

five dollars each. From the time of the organization in 
1862, until March, 1864, dividends had been paid on the 
stock to the amount of three hundred thousand dollars. In 
April, 1864, a farther dividend of eighty thousand dol- 
lars ; in May, of one hundred thousand dollars ; and in 
June, of one hundred thousand dollars were paid, or near- 
ly three times the original value of the stock. In June, 
1864, the stock was enlarged — that is, the original shares 
were called in, and fresh stock at the par value of fifty 
dollars per share, in the ratio of five shares of new stock 
for each original share, issued to the holder thereof. From 
June until August, the new stock advanced in price until, 
in the latter month, it was worth one hundred dollars per 
share, or double its par value ; and the stockholders had 
received dividends, in July and August, to the amount of 
two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The div- 
idends for September, October, November, and December 
amounted to four hundred thousand dollars, being to par- 
ties who have held their original stock a payment of one 
hundred and twenty dollars per share in dividends in 
eighteen months. The person who paid, one year and a 
half ago, the original value of twenty dollars [per share] 
for one hundred shares, and has held his stock, has re- 
ceived twelve thousand dollars dividend up to December, 
and from the profits of increase of capital made in June 
last obtained an accession to his stock of four hundred 
shares, which shares, although of fifty dollars par, are now 
worth, with his original shares, forty-two thousand five 
hundred dollars, making a clear profit of fifty-four thou- 
sand five hundred dollars in eighteen months." 

That is to say, the person who paid in two thousand 
dollars as stock has received over twelve thousand dollars 
11* 



250 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 

as dividends, besides a multiplication of his shares by five, 
the new issue being one hundred per cent above par last 
December ; but since then there has been a large fall in 
stocks, so that Columbia, which had reached one hundred 
dollars, as stated, has fallen to seventy dollars. This di- 
minishes the " pile" of profits very materially. 

Again, the Columbia Company purchased a farm which 
happened to be in the centre of the valley — the very core 
of the oil region. Three miles above and as many below 
it would not have enjoyed such a " streak of good luck." 

But, thirdly, it is quite true that not a few firms and 
companies that went largely into the movement — purchas- 
ing at low prices large tracts of land, and leasing it out in 
small lots to others for one-half of the oil, with*perhaps a 
large bonus besides — have succeeded to a degree almost 
unparalleled in these times of novel developments. What 
individual or association would not become princely rich, 
if owning in fee simple a few hundred acres of the Wash. 
McClintock, the Hyde and Egbert, or the Story farm ? 
But the matter wears a different aspect when it is propos- 
ed to go to that country and lease property on the terms 
usually granted by the present owners, who are not likely 
to act from the principles of pure charity, as they are 
probably quite as familiar with the productiveness of their 
lands as strangers could be the next hour after their 
arrival ! 

In a word, it was one thing to organize a company, 
purchase lands, and bore for oil in 1862, and another in 
1865. 

Whether it is or is not advisable for a prudent man to 
embark in petroleum enterprises at present, is a point on 
which I refrain from giving an opinion. That many of 



Ought I to Invest in jPetrolia, and How f 251 

both the new and the older wells will be amply remuner- 
ative, none but prejudice will attempt to deny. That a 
large amount of valuable experience has been gathered 
from the past is known to every body ; and the effect of 
this, in the judgment of careful and conscientious opera- 
tors, is to reduce the proportion of non-paying works from 
nine out of every ten to four out of five or three out of 
four. This consideration, however, is offset by another, 
namely, that no such productive wells have been opened 
the past two years as were during 1861 and the two fol- 
lowing years. To tap a two thousand barrel spring was 
at one time a matter of not very unfrequent occurrence ; 
there is not a well which yields over five hundred barrels 
to-day, only one gives over three hundred, and ten over 
one hundred. A two hundred barrel well is viewed with 
as much interest now as one flowing two thousand was 
three years ago. 

Hence, while the ratio of paying works opened is on 
the increase, those mammoth concerns which poured out 
their thousands of barrels daily have disappeared, prob- 
ably for ever. The risk is less, but so are the prizes. The 
enterprise is rising from the plane of a lottery toward that 
of certainty, and I may add, toward legitimacy and mo- 
rality. So much the better for all concerned, not even 
excepting the land and stock gamblers. 

To ask such indefinite questions as, "What do you 
think of the oil regions ?" " What is your opinion of in- 
vesting in petroleum stocks ?" is childish in the extreme, 
it being impossible to give a general answer on the sub- 
ject. In another chapter I have pointed out to what an 
extent " the law of lawlessness" prevails ; and that prin- 
ciple holds good as to the productiveness of farms and 



252 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How ? 

the financial condition of companies. That one property 
is " dry" affords no criterion to the lot adjoining it, which 
may open with a fine flowing well ; that one company is 
rotten to the core, being managed by rogues and sustained 
by dupes, affords no proof that another may not be sound 
and remunerative. One may pay out its working capital 
in dividends ; another may scatter and yet increase. It 
is true that Tray suffered from being in Snap's company ; 
and that the worthily managed have to bear a part of the 
odium which is attached to the worthless, when both are 
engaged in the same calling. The prudent stockholder 
will be as careful about sacrificing his shares during a time 
of panic or reverse, when errors in the management have 
been discovered, as he would be about investing in com- 
pany with a crowd. In truth, his interest is more valu- 
able after each instance of mismanagement or wrong- doing 
has been brought to light, and that is the time ; above all 
others, when he should hold on to his interest. Let him 
address himself to manning the pumps, lightening the 
hold, and seizing the helm, not to throwing himself into 
the yawl at the first note of alarm. 

But when I observe, at this late day, men who have 
been all their lives engaged in other pursuits crowding 
into the oil regions, and expecting to make fortunes speed- 
ily, as land speculators, agents, and even superintendents, 
competing with those who have served years of appren- 
ticeship in these capacities ; when I see those at home ex- 
pending their means lavishly to sustain others equally 
inexperienced with themselves, I inwardly say : " Friend, 
you will have to pay dearly for your whistle before all is 
over ; but probably no other lesson would have taught 
you needed wisdom, so profound was your belief in your 



Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How f 253 

own invincibility, after becoming well-to-do through, mea- 
suring tape or paring cheese. Gro forward and be taught !" 

Under ordinary circumstances, we should hardly think 
of employing a butcher to do our preaching, or a farmer 
to purchase dry-goods at wholesale. Most persons have 
come to believe that a certain amount of training, of ex- 
perience, as well as natural capacity, is requisite to em- 
ployment in any situation requiring knowledge, skill, and 
judgment. Not so with many of the oil companies. An 
officer who has done his duty bravely on the field, a glib- 
tongued lawyer or politician, a broken-down merchant — 
any body, in fact, who is " smart" enough to button-hole a 
board of ignorant directors — may be safely intrusted with 
the charge of a heavy interest in Petrolia. I am not im- 
pugning the characters or capabilities of superintendents 
as a class ; yet those who have been longest there will 
most readily concede that at first they were so verdant as 
to be unfit for the trust reposed in them. When the en- 
terprise was in its infancy, the readiest and likeliest had 
to be selected as managers. But surely the history of six 
years has not been without its fruits in training a body of 
practical men, whose experience of the various operations 
and processes to be gone through is worth something. Yet 
scarcely a day elapses without witnessing utterly green 
hands coming out to take charge of important works — 
men who are, nevertheless, too indolent or self-opinionated 
to spend their leisure hours in gaining instruction from 
their more experienced neighbors. 

And so, before forming an opinion as to the merits of 
any particular interest, it becomes necessary to examine 
into the character of the agent sent out to conduct its 
affairs — his soundness of judgment, his knowledge of the 



254: Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How ? 

business, his integrity, his application. Does he spend 
most of his time on the ground, or is he to be heard blus- 
tering in the bar-rooms, or, it may be, using his own po- 
sition to acquire wealth by dishonorable methods ? Ke- 
cently, in Titusville, a bureau of statistical and other 
information was started. I suggest that its agents make 
particular inquiry as to the calibre and conduct of those 
who are intrusted with the management of important works 
there ! To lead a company triumphantly through the 
storm of battle is glorious ; but it does not insure success 
in purchasing real estate and machinery, employing labor, 
locating wells, making contracts with persons who are up 
to every conceivable dodge and evasion. It is fine to 
display eminent ability in a law court, or to glisten on the 
editorial page ; but it by no means follows thac the genius 
will be crowned with laurel as an oil operator. 

To the individual, therefore, desirous of investing there, 
the first consideration should be to procure full and accu- 
rate information as to the facts ascertained and the persons 
employed by companies. This he can do either by a per- 
sonal inspection, which must not be too hurried, or by 
consulting those on whose word he can place implicit re- 
liance. There are some such in the oil regions. I have 
found an agent who corrected too high figures which had 
been given me as to the yield of a well, against the inter- 
est of the company and himself as a stockholder. Nor 
are such men in minorities as lean as may be supposed. 
It takes time to separate the wheat from the chaff — to as- 
certain whose word is deserving of trust and whose is not. 

A refiner, of several years' experience in that country, 
and in easy circumstances, remarked to me that he and 
his partner always invested their surplus profits in new 



Ought I to Invest in Peftrolia, and How f 255 

wells, though they did not believe that more than one in 
ten returned first cost and operating expenses. Nay, he 
would go further, and as a business man would guarantee 
to pay fifty per cent per annum as dividends on moneys 
intrusted to him for investment. This is certainly a 
tempting return, and I have no doubt was uttered in good 
faith ; but he did not state for hovj many years the obliga- 
tion would hold good ; and this is the point of all points in 
oil investments to be considered. He added that he would 
expend the money in localities selected by himself, and 
under the direction of men in whom he could confide. 

Another observation made by the same person was this : 
Let the man who has only a moderate sum to spare, dis- 
tribute it among several interests, instead of risking all in 
one, where he is liable to lose all. I can imagine no bet- 
ter piece of advice than this, the only obstacle to outsiders 
in carrying it out being the lack of information as to the 
character of companies having shares for sale. But such 
an inquiry must be made about all incorporated concerns 
coming before the public for means, or woe betide the 
unlucky wight who trusts to chance. The man who invests 
in any enterprise blindly, does what in him lies to demor- 
alize business, by holding out temptations to defraud. 
The duty, on moral grounds, of exercising strict vigilance 
in such matters, has not been sufficiently impressed upon 
the public by their professional teachers. 

Among the methods by which, it seems to me, boring 
for oil might be properly and profitably conducted, is 
the following : From four to six persons might associate 
as a firm or a company, putting in a total capital of 
twelve thousand to fifteen thousand dollars. These men 
should consist of an experienced driller, an engineer, a 



256 Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How ? 

carpenter, a tool-dresser, with perhaps a teamster, and a 
general manager, all ready to put down their hands and 
take vigorous hold at work. They select their acre-lot. 
which they should own in fee simple ; erect their own der- 
rick, engine-house, and machinery; haul their own lum- 
ber, fuel, and supplies; purchase their own engine and 
apparatus, then proceed to drill out their own well. Thus 
associated, they become their own grocers, boarding-house 
keepers, teamsters, clerks, etc., each having charge of his 
several department. If thought advisable, two relays 
could relieve each other, taking turns by day and night 
at the machinery. With a reasonable surplus to begin 
with, if one well proved unsuccessful, they could proceed 
with a second, a third, or even a tenth, until they " struck 
oil," if it should be strikeable. This done, a portion of 
the proceeds might be set apart to extending operations. 

There are too many and too obvious advantages arising 
from such associative effort to need further elaboration 
here ; and it only requires one attempt of the kind to be 
made in Petrolia for such a movement to become quite 
general. When this has been accomplished, companies, 
with their stocks "watered" to insipid weakness, with 
their costly superintendence at the works and management 
in the large cities, will find competitors in the producing 
field who can both undersell them and make a profit by 
so doing ; at the same time the workmen, with this new 
avenue to preferment thrown open, will have a stimulus 
to steadiness, economy, and the acquisition of knowledge, 
such as they cannot have at present. 

The excise duty of one dollar per barrel on crude oil 
will fall with almost oppressive weight upon this interest, 
m view of the effects of the late freshet and the reaction 



Ought I to Invest in Pet/roHa, and Sow f 257 

which has arisen in the public mind. Of the dead-and- 
alive concerns, kept going in order to find purchasers, I 
have no doubt that very many will suspend operations 
altogether. Probably one well out of every ten now 
pumping will thus get snuffed out before midsummer, after 
flickering a few weeks longer in the socket. The falling 
off thereby in the production of petroleum will not, how- 
ever, exceed one or two per cent, except indirectly ; but 
in that way its effects cannot fail to be serious, the impo- 
sition being from ten to thirty per cent on the gross pro- 
duct of an interest, which is certainly not netting ten per 
cent on the capital invested. Yet it is hard to sympathize 
with Petrolia in its misfortune, considering the systematic 
falsifying and swindling at which it has connived, if it 
did not directly encourage. Assuredly, if its inhabitants 
had been careful to represent matters precisely as they 
were, such a tax, in addition to twenty cents per gallon on 
the refined article, would not have been thought of. But 
the oil men gave encouragement to the belief that they 
could stand that or any other burthen, and so it was fast- 
ened on their shoulders. They are the sole authors of 
their own misfortunes, the architects of their own ruin, if 
ruinous the duty shall turn out to be. Often, on passing 
through the country, I could not fail to perceive the un- 
pleasantness of their situation. Occasionally taken for a 
government official, I found .the yield at which a well 
would be rated as much too low, as it was likely not to be 
when the true object of my visit was understood. Poor 
fellows ! They are placed between the upper millstone of 
Uncle Sam and the lower of the public prints, between 
which their situation is not to be envied. 

The annoyances connected with this impost are fully as 



258 Ought I to Invest in JPetrolia, and How f 

much, a theme of complaint as the tax itself. It may be, 
however, that these are selected as a side-issue for attack, 
when the true object assailed is the one dollar per barrel, 
operators being fearful of confessing that it falls with* 
crushing weight. Be this as it may, the duty must be 
paid by the owner or superintendent of the well within 
ten days, after rendering into the deputy assessor's office 
an account of its actual production, which must be done 
on the first, eleventh, and twenty -first days of every 
month. This necessitates at least three journeys in the 
month to that functionary's headquarters, and may require 
four or five, through a country not the best adapted in 
the world for pedestrian excursions, and where horse-flesh 
is an expensive luxury. It seems to me to be the obvious 
duty of the government to have its agents visit certain 
sub-districts on days specified, and receive the statements 
of production, if not the tax itself. With a load so exceed- 
ingly heavy it ought to offer every facility in its power for 
mitigating the effect ; and it is to be hoped that, despite 
the folly which brought on such a visitation, Congress 
will see the necessity of lightening this burthen upon an 
interest which, as a whole, has doubtless sunk to the gen- 
eral level of American industry on the score of profitable- 
ness. There is no valid reason, when the truth becomes 
known, why Petrolia should be taxed from fifty to eighty 
per cent on its gross production, in addition to income 
and indirect taxes, while all other interests are rated, as 
nearly as may be, at from three to six. 

I am not sure but the statement that "oil-mining" has 
been reduced to the general level of American industry, is 
a truism rather than a truth. In fact, the sea and the at- 
.mosphere do not more constantly find their own general 



Ought I to Invest in Petrolia, and How ? 259 

levels than does business to ascend or descend to the gen- 
eral average. This may shock the notions of those who 
. have been made dizzy by perusing the reports of certain 
great companies, or the productiveness of certain mam- 
moth wells ; but such must learn to take into account the 
thousands who have invested money and got back little 
or nothing, as well as the hundreds who have grown rich, 
and the tens who have become millionaires. They must 
bear in mind the disproportion of " dry territory " to that 
which bursts forth every little while with spouting wells. 
They must take in the disastrous years 1861, 1863, and 
1865, equally with the prosperous ones which were sand- 
wiched between these. And they must, if they would 
arrive at truth, make a note of the secret disgust, the 
silent disappointment endured, as truly as of the demon- 
strative displays made by those who have made their 
fortunes by a single throw. When the dark background 
as well as the bright coloring of this oil-painting has been 
contemplated, it will be seen that it differs from other pic- 
tures only in the intensity of contrast, not in the proportion 
of light to shade. The bright lines are more brilliant, as 
the sable portion is more pitchy dark than other works of 
the kind. With a region close by our doors, with free 
exit and entrance, with every facility for acquiring infor- 
mation about it, how could it, indeed, be otherwise ? 
Common-sense and the principles of sound political econ- 
omy teach, a priori, what I have demonstrated by figures. 



CHAPTER X. 



PEACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



Since the discovery of petroleum in Venango county, 
the state of Pennsylvania has done nothing to assist in its 
development, although deriving a large revenue therefrom. 
There is an urgent necessity for immediate reform in 
this regard. From the outset, for example, a state agent 
ought to have been appointed, with authority to collect 
statistics of the wells' productions, arrange, and publish 
them. That this should have been so long neglected, is 
alike discreditable to Pennsylvania and the interests more 
immediately concerned. At this time of the day, the pro- 
priety of gathering the statistics of all great departments 
of industry, fortunately requires no extended argumenta- 
tion ; but in a new growth of the sort, where the public 
mind was so liable to be led astray by falsehood, and 
where a dangerous reaction was sure to set in after the 
discovery of systematic misrepresentation, the case was so 
much the more urgent. Had monthly or even quarterly 
returns of the actual yield of those fountains, under oath, 
been made compulsory, the fever of excitement would not, 
it is true, have risen to so dangerous a pitch, but neither 
would it have been followed by a corresponding prostra- 
tion. It is supposed that this oversight will be remedied 
by the general government requiring such returns thrice 



Practical Considerations. 261 

a month ; but as the assessor is not obligated to publish 
the amount of taxes collected on crude petroleum from 
month to month, the public at large will have no access, 
within reasonable time, if' at all, to full and trustworthy 
information through this ayenue. Favored individuals or 
newspapers, it is true, may procure this on the sly ; but 
partiality in such matters is exceedingly mischievous, as 
it is essentially unfair. The earnest attention of the state 
authorities is, therefore, asked to this matter. 

Again, while Petrolia is inhabited by an essentially 
peaceable and orderly population, no protection exists to 
property-owners against careless or malicious persons, 
who withdraw the tubes and leave their wells open, to 
render unproductive perhaps half the works on a large 
farm. Along all the lower portion of Oil Creek, particu- 
larly Tarr farm, I have elsewhere pointed out the calami- 
tous effect of this careless selfishness or a disposition still 
more objectionable. Beyond a question, the aggregate 
productiveness of the oil region is lessened one thousand 
barrels per day from this cause only. The matter is one 
coming properly under legislative cognizance, and should 
receive immediate attention. I more than suspect that 
hitherto the companies most interested in having such 
abuses corrected, have been afraid to move in the matter, 
lest the admission might expose "the nakedness of the 
land " before the public, chiefly at the great money cen- 
tres. They have chosen to keep on suffering that they 
might have the privilege of uninterrupted sinning ! 

The small outlay connected with carrying these sugges- 
tions into effect could be borne by a tax on each produc- 
tive well, or upon the capital invested by each company, 
firm, or individual. 



262 Practical Considerations. 

Once more, it should be the duty of such a state agent 
to require the constructing and keeping in proper repair 
of suitable highways, bridges, sidewalks, etc. This is a 
matter of prime necessity. Extraordinary abuses call for 
extraordinary remedies. At Oil City, for example, the 
municipal authorities seem neither to know nor care for 
such matters ; the attention of men of means is too much 
absorbed in the race-course to descend to such a pitiful 
level as a common road. Outside of the borough there is 
no law recognized. The short-sightedness of individuals 
and companies has literally converted the Petrolians into 
a community of murderers ; for I can regard the system- 
atic, persistent cruelty and oppression shown to the horse, 
as at least "murder in the second degree." Teamsters 
assign six months as the average period for using up the 
finest quadruped that ever toiled on man's behalf. This 
harsh treatment brutalizes drivers, as it benumbs the best 
feelings of every looker-on. The compelling of all land- 
owners to lay out proper roads and keep them in suitable 
condition, for which abundant materials are everywhere 
close at hand, would prove a vast saving pecuniarily to 
all concerned at the year's end ; but until all are forced to 
act, it is idle to expect any one person or interest to move 
in the matter. 

Legal enactments are also needed to provide for the 
construction of levees, drains, etc., as well as roads. It is 
true, government machinery is usually heavy and compli- 
cated, as compared with individual action ; but where, as 
in the region under consideration, individuals and associa- 
tions refuse to move a step in the prosecution of improve- 
ments, which would enure to the benefit of all, it becomes 
the duty of the law-making power to interfere, perform 



Practical Considerations. 263 

the work in the most expeditious and efficient way it can, 
and charge its cost upon the interests thus benefited, or 
rather rescued from destruction. 

It is little to the credit of the " Keystone State " that 
no systematic and thorough examination of the oil region 
should have been undertaken on its behalf by scientific 
men. The Geological Survey of Pennsylvania is a noble 
work, unfortunately published shortly before the extraction 
of petroleum. When an interest has sprung into exist- 
ence, with taxable property annually increasing at the 
rate of many millions of dollars, some consideration is 
due it by the constituted authorities of a great and enter- 
prising state like Pennsylvania. The best talent, joined 
to the utmost disinterestedness of purpose, ought long 
since to have been secured and kept in the oil region 
to collect every specimen, and record every observation 
made by practical men, assisting the latter, whenever ne- 
cessary, or rectifying their mistakes in matters of fact or 
inferences. With all thus working harmoniously toge- 
ther, a body of scientific truths, of the utmost value in a 
practical point of view, might have been collected and 
published by this time, instead of the chaotic mass of 
facts, opinions, and endless contradictions, which have 
arisen out of Petrolia, as dark and dense as the smoke of 
the bottomless pit. Such an agency would have cost a 
few thousand dollars, which could easily have been as- 
sessed upon the interests benefited ; while it would doubt- 
less have added millions to the permanent wealth of the 
state, and thus indirectly have been a source of revenue. 
It is not yet too late to begin this most desirable under- 
taking ; but not an hour should be lost in setting about 
it. So far all is " confusion worse confounded " in this re- 



264 



Practical Considerations. 



spect. The accounts and theories of men are as diverse 
as the characteristics of the wells. The upper and nether 
worlds are for once in most delightful accord, and man 
lives according to nature. Scarcely two persons will be 
found to agree in their versions of either facts, phenome- 
na, or causes. The rock which one styles a sandstone, 
another terms a limestone. What A denominates soap- 
stone, B calls a tenacious clay. Theories are as dissimilar 
as men's faces, every body ridiculing that entertained by 
every body else. No wonder ; for Petrolia does not con- 
tain twenty men who have had a good scientific training, 
and acquired accurate and diligent habits of observation. 
The state authorities must undertake the task of reducing 
this chaos to order, of reconstructing these disjecta membra 
into a system of utility and beauty, or it will never be 
done properly. 

While the state is under obligation for duly protecting 
and extending this great interest, the public press of the 
country should bestow on it more earnest attention than 
has yet been given to it. A sufficient excuse for such 
oversight hitherto has been the frightful civil war, which 
involved most of our leading dailies in enormous ex- 
penses. No such excuse, however, can be justly offered 
on behalf of journals professedly established to throw 
light upon Petrolia. Every such paper should have one 
or more able and trustworthy correspondents in the field 
— men who would religiously keep their fingers from be- 
ing soiled with a bribe. Unfortunately it has long been 
remarked that journals "devoted to certain specialties 
have not been devoted at all ; their conductors satisfying 
themselves with facts rehashed from the daily papers, 
with some common-place observations to fill up a column. 



Practical Considerations. 265 

The petroleum journals have an opportunity of wiping 
away this reproach ; and I learn with pleasure that some 
of them are striving to do so. 

Allusion has already been made to the cost of keeping 
a pumping well in operation. Unless gas be freely given 
off, it requires nearly a cord of wood to supply the fur- 
nace for twelve hours, costing from seven to ten dollars. 
Coal is rather more costly, especially in the winter season. 
Add to the outlay for fuel the salary paid a superintend- 
ent, the wages of an engineer and a laborer, besides occa- 
sional outlays for repairs, and the total working expenses 
can hardly be set down at less than one hundred and 
twenty-five dollars per week, for a work of ordinary pro- 
ductiveness. This absorbs the receipts, at the average 
price of six dollars and eighty cents, of three and a half 
barrels of illuminating oil to begin with, assuming that 
the well is pumped steadily all the year round ; otherwise, 
the proportion of loss is still larger. Seldom does a four 
or five barrel well, after paying the excise, do more than 
clear working expenses, in the absence of gas as fuel. 

To reduce these the engineer is, in some instances, re- 
quired to make himself a man of all work, occasionally 
dressing tools, repairing the sheds, or repairing the ma- 
chinery which may have got out of order. The superin- 
tendent of a small concern also performs often the func- 
tions of clerk and laborer, in addition to his own, or he 
hires out a portion of his time to other companies or 
individuals. One man may thus have the general over- 
sight of half a dozen or more contiguous interests. The 
work of barrelling the oil requires little labor and (com- 
monly) too little time. Eefiners or their agents ordinarily 
go from farm to farm and purchase it on the ground. 
12 



266 Practical Considerations. 

sending their own boats or teams with barrels for its recep- 
tion. In this case it sometimes needs a degree of watch- 
fulness, as the purchaser may have his barrel ever so little 
above the size, all the excess over forty gallons being so 
much clear gain to him. On this account, some prefer to 
sell the petroleum in bulk only. In all these respects I 
have no doubt much saving may be effected, and, further, 
that the time for turning a new leaf on the score of econ- 
omy has fully arrived. 

An intelligent operator lays down the following rules 
for the guidance of superintendents and other employes : 
Be careful in every thing. Measure, calculate, estimate, 
weigh accurately in advance ; and when action is required, 
let nothing be done rashly. A well requires to be as ten- 
derly dealt with as a nurse's patient. Let well enough 
alone. If your well be yielding ten or twenty barrels 
per day steadily, don't undertake to make new and rash 
experiments upon it, even though they may have suc- 
ceeded elsewhere. Never count upon two wells being 
quite alike in this respect. "What is sauce for the goose 
in Petrolia may not be sauce for the gander. LooTc care- 
fully to the pump-valves. The sudden stoppage in the 
yield of productive wells is more frequently due to disor- 
der in the valves than to any other cause. 

Of mercantile business in Petrolia the same remark is 
usually made as as about boring for oil : The man who is 
adapted to it and conducts it on correct principles; can 
hardly fail to succeed. On the other hand, he who breaks 
down elsewhere stands a poor chance there. The con- 
sumption of groceries, meats, horse-feed, clothing, boots, 
and the like, is enormous, owing to the vast influx of 
strangers, and the absence of economy in trifles, charac- 



Practical Considerations. 267 

teristic of all countries into which a great stream of wealth 
has been suddenly poured. Such articles usually sell at 
from fifteen to twenty-five per cent higher than in most 
country towns and villages, the prices depending somewhat 
on the means of transportation from the more prominent 
points. The cash principle is nearly universal. The 
apology made by the retail-trader for high prices is, that 
rents and horse-hire are oppressively high ; that fuel 
and every other article he purchases costs two or three 
prices. In like manner, the owner of a house falls back 
upon the exorbitant sums charged for lots or ground- rents 
which are, he alleges, fully up to the New- York city 
standard ; while labor and materials are so costly that 
it requires two or three times the sum to erect a store 
or dwelling that it formerly did. 

Of hotels and boarding-house accommodations some- 
thing has been said elsewhere. For transient guests the 
charges are nowhere below two dollars and fifty cents 
per day, and more frequently from three to four dollars. 
Even at these metropolitan figures the stranger, who has 
been " taken in," cannot count upon a bed for himself, 
much less clean sheets and a separate apartment. At 
Shaffer's, for four dollars per day, he may perhaps get all 
these ; and at Irvine, at a still more reasonable charge, 
with a manifest disposition to oblige. Everywhere the 
tables are abundantly spread with the substantiate requi- 
site for a good meal ; but in a majority of places milk and 
the more delicate articles of fare are usually absent. The 
culinary arrangements are apt to be primitive, and cooks 
are of all imaginable grades. There is certainly little 
cleanliness in the eating, as in the sleeping apartments ; 
but something must be pardoned to the genius of mud, as 



268 Practical Considerations. 

well as to the spirit of liberty. For permanent boarders 
trie rate usually charged is ten dollars per week in hotels, 
and eight or nine dollars in boarding-houses. 

If a man rates even moderately on that standard of 
measurement, " how to keep a hotel," and applies himself 
to his business, I hardly see how he can help getting rich 
in a few years, in spite of the extravagant rents and high 
prices of provisions, fuel, labor, etc. The rush of travel 
has hitherto been so immense that strangers have been 
completely at the mercy of landlords. The most tender- 
ly reared and fastidious in taste have often been only too 
happy to secure six feet by two on a floor or a counter, 
wrapped in a buffalo-robe. No use in complaining about 
package, unventilated rooms, or dingy sheets ; for a sig- 
nificant hint from the proprietor, that half a dozen others 
would have paid a premium for the same berth, invaria- 
bly suppresses all uprisings of discontent. " Sir, we do 
the best we can for you. This is the oil country, you 
know." 

But let the tide thitherward of excited folly decline, as 
it has already begun to decline, and hotel-keepers will 
find themselves competing for public " patronage," instead 
of patronizing the weary pilgrim by condescending to 
give him a coarse supper and a coarser bed for two prices. 
The owners of real estate will also begin to feel the up- 
risings of a sentiment akin to moderation. Lots for 
building purposes will be brought within the reach of in- 
dustrious men, though they be not petroleum aristocrats ; 
while those of more ambitious views may naturally aspire 
to the possession of a whole acre, to be cultivated for gar- 
dening purposes or devoted to pasture. 

This brings me -to consider the stolid stupidity of many 



Practical Considerations. 269 

oil companies, in the discouragement they have offered to 
the cultivation of the soil by demanding" prices as the rent 
of land such as no person could afford to pay. They have 
preferred to let thousands of acres lie idle to having them 
producing food for their workmen, or even hay for their 
horses. Their idea appears to have been that the proper- 
ty they have purchased as oil-lands should rent for only 
six month, at raters paying high interest on the invest- 
ment ! Short of such returns they would let those broad 
acres, which they were unable to bore, run idle. They 
have thus reduced an originally fertile country to the con- 
dition of a desert, depending upon remote localities for 
every measure of garden vegetables, every quart of milk, 
as well as the staple articles of food consumed. Hence, 
with all their high earnings, the Petrolians can seldom 
procure a glass of fresh milk or a mess of fresh vegeta- 
bles. Hence, too, with abundance of land susceptible of 
cultivation, employes must pay two prices for board, which, 
in turn, reacts upon the companies, compelling them to 
pay double wages, and reduce dividends in a correspond- 
ing degree. All this is attributable to the whirlwind of 
excitement, which has led all interests to despise the in- 
significant gains derivable from the soil, or from the prac- 
tice of a prudent, far-sighted policy in procuring supplies 
at home for the rapidly increasing market. The nume- 
rous failures in proportion to the successes achieved there, 
an understanding by the public of the tricks and traps 
1 esorted to for the purpose of deceiving the unwary, must 
have the effect of bringing about (by necessity) a com- 
plete change of policy in this respect, on the part of in- 
terests which expect to survive. One or two Philadel- 
phia concerns have already had the sagacity to see this 



270 Practical Considerations. 

and take action upon it. They offer such lands as are 
not likely to be taken up otherwise at moderate rents, for 
six months or a year, in the hope of inducing farmers and 
gardeners to migrate thither. But this is only a drop at 
the bucket. It is important that a general movement in 
the same direction shall take place, and that without de- 
lay. Migration on the part of the classes named must be 
systematized, and every reasonable inducement held out 
to them to take up their abode in the unoccupied lands. 
With a fair chance many hundreds would readily take 
hold there ; and such men would constitute an efficient 
force of laborers to sink wells at a minimum price dur- 
ing the fall and winter months, as also to do hauling and 
other work at reasonable rates. 

In fact, if petroleum is not to be brought down to, hut 
kept up witfi, the general level of our great interests, the 
first proceeding in order is to strip it of the false glare in 
which it has hitherto been presented to the world ; to in- 
culcate the necessity of certain old-fashioned virtues like 
moderation, economy, prudence, forethought, public spirit, 
etc. After the money -making and money -losing fanati- 
cism which has raged there for nearly half a dozen years, 
it may go hard with many to sit down to master afresh 
these rudiments of education ; but the longer this task 
shall be put off, the worse for all concerned. 

Owing to the impolicy noticed above, an evil of still 
greater magnitude — one which can hardly be measured in 
dollars and cents — has arisen. There is, in many places, 
scarcely a trace of what can be termed a permanent ele- 
ment in the population — certainly not outside of a few 
principal towns. In Oil City ninety-nine out of every 
hundred persons expect to leave it as soon as they have 



Practical Considerations. 271 

got " money enough." Hence, on the part of nearly 
every one, the understanding is to acquire wealth as rap- 
idly as possible, without being too scrupulous as to the 
means ; then clear out of the country, or "return to the 
States," as they term it. ISTo impression could be more 
detrimental to the general well-being of a community than 
this. It bars all progress, except such as is concerned in, 
momentarily inflating market- values. It brings the race- 
course with its excitement, but not the passable highway 
with its utility and comfort ; the telegraph, with its cook- 
ed-up dispatches, not the decent sidewalk ; the caravan- 
sary, not the well-kept hotel ; the mountebank with his 
" gift enterprises," not the sound public teacher ; the 
tribe of "Moses," not the class of honorable, public-spir- 
ited merchants ; wild excitements, instead of the purer 
enjoyments becoming rational and accountable beings. 
It is an obstruction alike to good morals, pure religion, 
general education and refinement, as well as to public 
improvement. Where no person expects to remain, ex- 
cept for the briefest possible period, who feels interested 
in giving tone to a community ? "Who cares for its repu- 
tation outside, whether it be good or bad ? Who will ex- 
pend a dime in beautifying house, grounds, etc., adorn- 
ments which add so much to the sweets of existence in 
beholders as well as owners ? Who will oppose abuses, 
be they ever so monstrous, or institute reforms, be the 
necessity ever so urgent, when every step is certain to 
arouse opposition, and no one feels concerned about the 
distant future ? The Spartans made their slaves drunk, 
in order to exhibit them in that condition to their child- 
ren, and thereby fill their minds with disgust at the prac- 
tice. If I wanted to impress on the mind of a youth the 



272 Practical Considerations. 

debasing effects of selfishness, I should transport him for 
a whole week to Oil City ! 

The social condition of Petrolia is thus in a measure 
that of California, for some years after " the gold fever " 
began to rage. Society remained utterly demoralized un- 
til the idea got into some men's heads that " the Golden 
State " might be made a desirable place for one's perma- 
nent abode. This revolution in idea was followed by the 
social uprising which overthrew the lawless element and 
established order, protection, quiet. What California has 
been made under the influence of a thought, Petrolia 
may become by the same instrumentality. Let this 
thought only take root there, and from it will spring up 
at once a beauteous growth of public spirit, generosity, 
kindness, accompanied by the march of improvement 
such as it has never yet witnessed. Until this idea has 
taken hold of the people, it is idle to expect aught but a 
continuation of the same recklessness, the same fluctua- 
tions in business, the same acquisition of princely fortunes 
by a few, at the expense of many and sad mass-fortunes 
on the part of the multitude. Petrolia will become a 
plague-spot on the score of manners, a great gambling- 
school, a camp of instruction for the whole country in 
falsehood and rascality. Principles which have lain latent 
in the human breast elsewhere, will there be " developed" 
equally with " oil territory;" and taking their places there 
as so many cardinal virtues, will come forth to walk the 
earth with unblushing front, and communicate to old and 
young the sad distemper. 

However it may be with companies and individual spec- 
ulators, he is a friend to the country and his race who ex- 
poses the abuses which have grown up in connection with 



Practical Considerations. 273 

the oil discovery ; who proves that while there exist in 
Petrolia the conditions of an abiding prosperity, (the de- 
posit extending to uplands as well as lowlands,) yet the 
average profits on extracting oil from the earth are noth- 
ing like so great as have been represented ; that the agen- 
cies made use of to influence public opinion elsewhere are 
for the most part deceptive ; that the men who have pros- 
tituted their tongues or their pens to induce strangers in 
such multitudes to invest their means, without any per- 
sonal examination, in the business, belong to the class 
knave or the class fool j in a word, that it is by putting 
a stop to this temporary flush of prosperity, and turning 
men's attention to what is permanent, that the true well- 
being of that region is to be brought about. This I have 
at least endeavored to do. 

It has been established, I think, that the river-system 
of that country has had nothing whatever to do with the 
original depositing of petroleum ; consequently, that it 
may be expected with the same chance of success in the 
table-lands as along the bottoms, plus the cost and trouble 
of reaching and pumping it. It has been shown that in 
some valleys the supply of oil is fast becoming exhausted, • 
whatever quantities may be brought up by boring new 
wells or deepening old ones. This is a painfully import- 
ant truth, which, however, can no longer be concealed by 
the specious reasoning of scribes who have hired them- 
selves out to puff general or individual interests. The 
hard fact of four-fifths of the old wells remaining idle 
year after year, in spite of repeated attempts to resusci- 
tate them, also demonstrates that there is no chemical ac- 
tion going on which generates petroleum in large quanti- 
ties out of its original constituents ; but that the small 
12* 



274 Practical Considerations. 

quantities obtained are due to leakage, or some other 
equally simple agency. 

It has been shown that many of the fortunes rapidly 
acquired in the oil regions by selling interests in produc- 
tive wells or those expected to become such, are gained 
by unscrupulous lying and 'dishonorable stratagems, by 
which the uninitiated have been swindled and robbed, 
while in a state of mind approaching intoxication, from 
the "ardent spirits" distributed along the outposts of the 
country. 

The actual yield of the producing wells has been ascer- 
tained or closely approximated to, and published for the 
first time. I. feel confident that no well's production has 
been designedly misrepresented, and that the figures pub- 
lished as to what each was doing at the time of my visit, 
are not in one instance out of twenty far from the mark ; 
that they are as often below it as above. From these data 
I have estimated the average production of the entire re- 
gion ; and though making no account of the loose esti- 
mates of others who were never on the ground, it is satis- 
factory to learn that the figures given here are nearly 
'midway between the extremes. Estimates for working ex- 
penses, for replacing defunct concerns, excise duties, etc., 
have also been given ; and a result on the score of pro- 
fitableness arrived at, which will be found in accordance 
with common-sense and sound principle. 

Finally, a number of practical suggestions have been 
offered, embodying not only the author's individual views, 
but those of experienced operators, whose knowledge and 
characters entitle them to a fair, fall hearing on the part 
of residents, directors, legislators, and all others concerned 
in the permanent prosperity of the oil region. These va- 



Practical Considerations. 275 

rious topics discussed, together with the processes of bor- 
ing, refining, and repairing, the author would conclude 
by declaring once more that in dealing with every depart-^ 
ment of the subject his sole aim has been to arrive at and 
state "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth." 




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